Providing for Static Local Variables

Example 9-2 shows a problem that is similar to the errno problem, but involving static storage instead of global storage. The function gethostbyname(3NSL) is called with the computer name as its argument. The return value is a pointer to a structure that contains the required information for contacting the computer through network communications.

Example 9-2 The gethostbyname() Problem

struct hostent *gethostbyname(char *name) {
    static struct hostent result;
        /* Lookup name in hosts database */
        /* Put answer in result */
    return(&result);
}

A pointer that is returned to a local variable is generally not a good idea. Using a pointer works in this example because the variable is static. However, when two threads call this variable at once with different computer names, the use of static storage conflicts.

Thread-specific data could be used as a replacement for static storage, as in the errno problem. But, this replacement involves dynamic allocation of storage and adds to the expense of the call.

A better way to handle this kind of problem is to make the caller of gethostbyname() supply the storage for the result of the call. An additional output argument to the routine enables the caller to supply the storage. The additional output argument requires a new interface to the gethostbyname() function.

This technique is used in threads to fix many of these problems. In most cases, the name of the new interface is the old name with “_r” appended, as in gethostbyname_r(3NSL).