The document discusses the evolution of thread implementations in Linux, including the original LinuxThreads implementation which used a 1:1 threading model with each thread as a separate process and its limitations. It then describes the design and goals of the Native POSIX Threads Library (NPTL) implementation which uses a 1:1 model mapping threads to lightweight processes managed by the kernel to improve performance and scalability while maintaining POSIX compliance. Key threading functions like pthread_create and pthread_join are also outlined.

1. Threads

3. Figure 2-12. The first column lists some items shared by all threads in a process. The second one lists some items private to each thread. Thread/Process Items Tanenbaum, Modern Operating Systems 3 e, (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc. All rights reserved. 0-13- 6006639

4. Figure 2-16. (a) A user-level threads package. (b) A threads package managed by the kernel. User Threads, Kernel Threads Tanenbaum, Modern Operating Systems 3 e, (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, Inc. All rights reserved. 0-13- 6006639

5. Threads in Linux