Partial patch from SF #452266, by Jason Petrone.

This changes Pythread_start_thread() to return the thread ID, or -1
for an error.  (It's technically an incompatible API change, but I
doubt anyone calls it.)

Doc/lib/libthread.tex

@@ -32,11 +32,10 @@ This is the type of lock objects.
 \end{datadesc}
 
 \begin{funcdesc}{start_new_thread}{function, args\optional{, kwargs}}
-Start a new thread.  The thread executes the function \var{function}
-with the argument list \var{args} (which must be a tuple).  The
-optional \var{kwargs} argument specifies a dictionary of keyword
-arguments.  When the
-function returns, the thread silently exits.  When the function
+Start a new thread and return its identifier.  The thread executes the function
+\var{function} with the argument list \var{args} (which must be a tuple).  The
+optional \var{kwargs} argument specifies a dictionary of keyword arguments.
+When the function returns, the thread silently exits.  When the function
 terminates with an unhandled exception, a stack trace is printed and
 then the thread exits (but other threads continue to run).
 \end{funcdesc}

Include/pythread.h

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 DL_IMPORT(void) PyThread_init_thread(void);
-DL_IMPORT(int) PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*)(void *), void *);
+DL_IMPORT(long) PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*)(void *), void *);
 DL_IMPORT(void) PyThread_exit_thread(void);
 DL_IMPORT(void) PyThread__PyThread_exit_thread(void);
 DL_IMPORT(long) PyThread_get_thread_ident(void);

Misc/NEWS

@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ Core
 
 Library
 
+- thread.start_new_thread() now returns the thread ID (previously None).
+
 - doctest now excludes functions and classes not defined by the module
   being tested, thanks to Tim Hochberg.
 
@@ -91,6 +93,13 @@ C API
   Consequently, PyArg_ParseTuple's 'L' code also accepts int (as well
   as long) arguments.
 
+- PyThread_start_new_thread() now returns a long int giving the thread
+  ID, if one can be calculated; it returns -1 for error, 0 if no
+  thread ID is calculated (this is an incompatible change, but only
+  the thread module used this API).  This code has only really been
+  tested on Linux and Windows; other platforms please beware (and
+  report any bugs or strange behavior).
+
 New platforms
 
 Tests

Modules/threadmodule.c

@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ thread_PyThread_start_new_thread(PyObject *self, PyObject *fargs)
 {
 	PyObject *func, *args, *keyw = NULL;
 	struct bootstate *boot;
+	long ident;
 
 	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(fargs, "OO|O:start_new_thread", &func, &args, &keyw))
 		return NULL;
@@ -242,7 +243,8 @@ thread_PyThread_start_new_thread(PyObject *self, PyObject *fargs)
 	Py_INCREF(args);
 	Py_XINCREF(keyw);
 	PyEval_InitThreads(); /* Start the interpreter's thread-awareness */
-	if (!PyThread_start_new_thread(t_bootstrap, (void*) boot)) {
+	ident = PyThread_start_new_thread(t_bootstrap, (void*) boot);
+	if (ident == -1) {
 		PyErr_SetString(ThreadError, "can't start new thread\n");
 		Py_DECREF(func);
 		Py_DECREF(args);
@@ -250,20 +252,19 @@ thread_PyThread_start_new_thread(PyObject *self, PyObject *fargs)
 		PyMem_DEL(boot);
 		return NULL;
 	}
-	Py_INCREF(Py_None);
-	return Py_None;
+	return PyInt_FromLong(ident);
 }
 
 static char start_new_doc[] =
 "start_new_thread(function, args[, kwargs])\n\
 (start_new() is an obsolete synonym)\n\
 \n\
-Start a new thread.  The thread will call the function with positional\n\
-arguments from the tuple args and keyword arguments taken from the optional\n\
-dictionary kwargs.  The thread exits when the function returns; the return\n\
-value is ignored.  The thread will also exit when the function raises an\n\
-unhandled exception; a stack trace will be printed unless the exception is\n\
-SystemExit.";
+Start a new thread and return its identifier.  The thread will call the\n\
+function with positional arguments from the tuple args and keyword arguments\n\
+taken from the optional dictionary kwargs.  The thread exits when the\n\
+function returns; the return value is ignored.  The thread will also exit\n\
+when the function raises an unhandled exception; a stack trace will be\n\
+printed unless the exception is SystemExit.\n";
 
 static PyObject *
 thread_PyThread_exit_thread(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)

Python/thread.c

@@ -111,7 +111,6 @@ void PyThread_init_thread(void)
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PTH
 #include "thread_pth.h"
-#undef _POSIX_THREADS
 #endif
 
 #ifdef _POSIX_THREADS

Python/thread_beos.h

@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ static void PyThread__init_thread( void )
 
 static int32 thread_count = 0;
 
-int PyThread_start_new_thread( void (*func)(void *), void *arg )
+long PyThread_start_new_thread( void (*func)(void *), void *arg )
 {
 	status_t success = 0;
 	thread_id tid;
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ int PyThread_start_new_thread( void (*func)(void *), void *arg )
 		success = resume_thread( tid );
 	}
 
-	return ( success == B_NO_ERROR ? 1 : 0 );
+	return ( success == B_NO_ERROR ? tid : -1 );
 }
 
 long PyThread_get_thread_ident( void )

Python/thread_cthread.h

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ PyThread__init_thread(void)
 /*
  * Thread support.
  */
-int
+long
 PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	int success = 0;	/* init not needed when SOLARIS_THREADS and */
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	 * so well do it here
 	 */
 	cthread_detach(cthread_fork((cthread_fn_t) func, arg));
-	return success < 0 ? 0 : 1;
+	return success < 0 ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
 long

Python/thread_foobar.h

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ PyThread__init_thread(void)
 /*
  * Thread support.
  */
-int
+long
 PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	int success = 0;	/* init not needed when SOLARIS_THREADS and */
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	dprintf(("PyThread_start_new_thread called\n"));
 	if (!initialized)
 		PyThread_init_thread();
-	return success < 0 ? 0 : 1;
+	return success < 0 ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
 long

Python/thread_lwp.h

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ static void PyThread__init_thread(void)
  */
 
 
-int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
+long PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	thread_t tid;
 	int success;
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	if (!initialized)
 		PyThread_init_thread();
 	success = lwp_create(&tid, func, MINPRIO, 0, lwp_newstk(), 1, arg);
-	return success < 0 ? 0 : 1;
+	return success < 0 ? -1 : 0;
 }
 
 long PyThread_get_thread_ident(void)

Python/thread_nt.h

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <limits.h>
 #include <process.h>
+#include <Python.h>
 
 typedef struct NRMUTEX {
 	LONG   owned ;
@@ -12,6 +13,8 @@ typedef struct NRMUTEX {
 	HANDLE hevent ;
 } NRMUTEX, *PNRMUTEX ;
 
+/* dictionary to correlate thread ids with the handle needed to terminate them*/
+static PyObject *threads = NULL;
 
 typedef PVOID WINAPI interlocked_cmp_xchg_t(PVOID *dest, PVOID exc, PVOID comperand) ;
 
@@ -145,28 +148,67 @@ long PyThread_get_thread_ident(void);
  */
 static void PyThread__init_thread(void)
 {
+	threads = PyDict_New();
 }
 
 /*
  * Thread support.
  */
-int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
+
+typedef struct {
+	void (*func)(void*);
+	void *arg;			
+	long id;
+	HANDLE done;
+} callobj;
+
+static int
+bootstrap(void *call)
+{
+	callobj *obj = (callobj*)call;
+	/* copy callobj since other thread might free it before we're done */
+	void (*func)(void*) = obj->func;
+	void *arg = obj->arg;
+
+	obj->id = PyThread_get_thread_ident();
+	ReleaseSemaphore(obj->done, 1, NULL);
+	func(arg);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+long PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	unsigned long rv;
 	int success = 0;
+	callobj *obj;
+	int id;
+	PyObject *key, *val;
 
 	dprintf(("%ld: PyThread_start_new_thread called\n", PyThread_get_thread_ident()));
 	if (!initialized)
 		PyThread_init_thread();
 
-	rv = _beginthread(func, 0, arg); /* use default stack size */
+	obj = malloc(sizeof(callobj)); 
+	obj->func = func;
+	obj->arg = arg;
+	obj->done = CreateSemaphore(NULL, 0, 1, NULL);
+
+	rv = _beginthread(func, 0, obj); /* use default stack size */
  
 	if (rv != (unsigned long)-1) {
 		success = 1;
 		dprintf(("%ld: PyThread_start_new_thread succeeded: %p\n", PyThread_get_thread_ident(), rv));
 	}
 
-	return success;
+	/* wait for thread to initialize and retrieve id */
+	WaitForSingleObject(obj->done, 5000);  /* maybe INFINITE instead of 5000? */
+	CloseHandle((HANDLE)obj->done);
+	key = PyLong_FromLong(obj->id);
+	val = PyLong_FromLong((long)rv);
+	PyDict_SetItem(threads, key, val);
+	id = obj->id;
+	free(obj);
+	return id;
 }
 
 /*

Python/thread_os2.h

@@ -21,16 +21,16 @@ PyThread__init_thread(void)
 /*
  * Thread support.
  */
-int
+long
 PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
   int aThread;
-  int success = 1;
+  int success = 0;
 
   aThread = _beginthread(func,NULL,65536,arg);
 
   if( aThread == -1 ) {
-    success = 0;
+    success = -1;
     fprintf(stderr,"aThread failed == %d",aThread);
     dprintf(("_beginthread failed. return %ld\n", errno));
   }

Python/thread_pth.h

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ static void PyThread__init_thread(void)
  */
 
 
-int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
+long PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	pth_t th;
 	dprintf(("PyThread_start_new_thread called\n"));
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 				 (void *)arg
 				 );
 
-	return th == NULL ? 0 : 1;
+	return th;
 }
 
 long PyThread_get_thread_ident(void)

Python/thread_pthread.h

@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ PyThread__init_thread(void)
  */
 
 
-int 
+long
 PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	pthread_t th;
@@ -210,7 +210,11 @@ PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 		pthread_detach(th);
 #endif
 	}
-	return success != 0 ? 0 : 1;
+#if SIZEOF_PTHREAD_T <= SIZEOF_LONG
+	return (long) th;
+#else
+	return (long) *(long *) &th;
+#endif
 }
 
 /* XXX This implementation is considered (to quote Tim Peters) "inherently

Python/thread_sgi.h

@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ static void clean_threads(void)
 	}
 }
 
-int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
+long PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 #ifdef USE_DL
 	long addr, size;
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	}
 	if (usunsetlock(count_lock) < 0)
 		perror("usunsetlock (count_lock)");
-	return success < 0 ? 0 : 1;
+	return success;
 }
 
 long PyThread_get_thread_ident(void)

Python/thread_solaris.h

@@ -36,9 +36,10 @@ new_func(void *funcarg)
 }
 
 
-int 
+long
 PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
+	thread_t tid;
 	struct func_arg *funcarg;
 	int success = 0;	/* init not needed when SOLARIS_THREADS and */
 				/* C_THREADS implemented properly */
@@ -50,12 +51,12 @@ PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	funcarg->func = func;
 	funcarg->arg = arg;
 	if (thr_create(0, 0, new_func, funcarg,
-		       THR_DETACHED | THR_NEW_LWP, 0)) {
+		       THR_DETACHED | THR_NEW_LWP, &tid)) {
 		perror("thr_create");
 		free((void *) funcarg);
 		success = -1;
 	}
-	return success < 0 ? 0 : 1;
+	return tid;
 }
 
 long

Python/thread_wince.h

@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ static void PyThread__init_thread(void)
 /*
  * Thread support.
  */
-int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
+long PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 {
 	long rv;
-	int success = 0;
+	int success = -1;
 
 	dprintf(("%ld: PyThread_start_new_thread called\n", PyThread_get_thread_ident()));
 	if (!initialized)
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ int PyThread_start_new_thread(void (*func)(void *), void *arg)
 	rv = _beginthread(func, 0, arg); /* use default stack size */
  
 	if (rv != -1) {
-		success = 1;
+		success = 0;
 		dprintf(("%ld: PyThread_start_new_thread succeeded:\n", PyThread_get_thread_ident()));
 	}