OCIServerAttach does not return in multi-threaded mode

Question

RedHat 6.2, Oracle 8.1.5
With OCIInitialize mode is OCI_THREADED and OCIEnvInit mode is OCI_DEFAULT, and when another application thread is started prior to calling OCIServerAttach, OCIServerAttach never returns, and seems to lock up the app, as the previously started application thread also stops.
Changing the OCIEnvInit mode to OCI_NO_MUTEX allows OCIServerAttach to complete OK.
Anyone any idea where to start looking?
The following is the sample program I used to reproduce the problem:
#include <iostream.h>
#include <fstream.h>
#define GNUSOURCE
#include <unistd.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <oci.h>
void * busyBody(void * )
for( int i =0; i < 30; ++i )
cout << " busyBody..." << endl;
sleep(1);
return NULL;
int main()
pthread_t mId;
if( 0 != pthread_create( &mId, NULL/*attr*/, busyBody, NULL/*arg*/ ) )
cerr << "thread failed to start" << endl;
exit(1);
sleep(3);
OCIEnv *envhp;
OCIError *errhp;
OCIServer *srvhp;
OCISvcCtx *svchp;
int i = 0;
i = OCIInitialize((ub4) OCI_THREADED,
(dvoid *)0, //user defined context for the memory call back routines
(dvoid * (*)(dvoid *, size_t)) 0, //user-defined memory allocation function
(dvoid * (*)(dvoid *, dvoid *, size_t))0, //user-defined memory re-allocation function
(void (*)(dvoid *, dvoid *)) 0 ); //user-defined memory free function
i = OCIEnvInit( (OCIEnv **) &envhp, //a pointer to a handle to the environment
OCI_DEFAULT, //specifies initialization of an environment mode
(size_t) 0, //specifies the amount of user memory to be allocated
(dvoid **) 0 ); //returns a pointer to the user memory of size xtramemsz
i = OCIHandleAlloc( (dvoid *) envhp, //an environment or a statement handle
(dvoid **) &errhp, //returns a handle to a handle type
OCI_HTYPE_ERROR, //specifies the type of handle to be allocated
(size_t) 0, //specifies an amount of user memory to be allocated
(dvoid **) 0); //returns a pointer to the user memory of size xtramemsz
/* server/service contexts */
i = OCIHandleAlloc( (dvoid *) envhp,
(dvoid **) &srvhp,
OCI_HTYPE_SERVER,
(size_t) 0,
(dvoid **) 0);
i = OCIHandleAlloc( (dvoid *) envhp,
(dvoid **) &svchp,
OCI_HTYPE_SVCCTX,
(size_t) 0,
(dvoid **) 0);
// Creates an access path to a data source for OCI operations
cout << "before OCIServerAttach" << endl;
i = OCIServerAttach( srvhp, //an uninitialized server context handle
errhp, //an error handle which can be passed to OCIErrorGet()
// assume local server
0, //specifies the database (server) to use(specifies a connect string or a service point)
0, //length of previous parm
OCI_DEFAULT); //specifies the various modes of operation. For release 8.0, pass as OCI_DEFAULT
cout << "after OCIServerAttach" << endl;
sleep(3);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Firefox doesn't treat each tab as a separate process. While this may be a feature sometime in the future, I don't know of any plans to introduce it anytime soon. Obviously, buying a quad core processor is going to be significantly faster than a dual-core, and your browser is usually less resource intensive than many other programs. I wouldn't use it as your purchasing decision. Firefox will run equally well on a dual-core or a quad-core, but windows and other programs will run better with 4 cores.