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175 lines
9.5 KiB
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../boost.css">
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<title>Boost.Threads - Overview</title>
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</head>
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<body link="#0000ff" vlink="#800080">
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<table border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary=
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"header">
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<tr>
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<td valign="top" width="300">
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<h3><a href="../../../index.htm"><img height="86" width="277" alt="C++ Boost" src="../../../c++boost.gif" border="0"></a></h3>
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</td>
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<td valign="top">
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<h1 align="center">Boost.Threads</h1>
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<h2 align="center">Overview</h2>
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</td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<hr>
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<dl class="index">
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<dt><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#dangers">Dangers</a></dt>
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<dl class="index">
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<dt><a href="#testing-debugging">Testing and debugging considerations</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#head-start">Getting a head start</a></dt>
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</dl>
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<dt><a href="#library">C++ Standard Library usage in multi-threaded programs</a></dt>
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<dl class="index">
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<dt><a href="#runtime-libraries">Runtime libraries</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#non-thread-safe-functions">Potentially non-thread-safe functions</a></dt>
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</dl>
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<dt><a href="#common-requirements">Common requirements for all Boost.Threads components</a></dt>
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<dl class="index">
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<dt><a href="#exceptions">Exceptions</a></dt>
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<dt><a href="#non-copyable">NonCopyable requirement</a></dt>
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</dl>
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</dl>
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<h2><a name="introduction"></a>Introduction</h2>
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<p>Boost.Threads allows C++ programs to execute as multiple, asynchronous, independent,
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threads-of-execution. Each thread has its own machine state including program
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instruction counter and registers. Programs which execute as multiple threads
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are called multi-threaded programs to distinguish them from traditional single-threaded
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programs. <a href="definitions.html">Definitions</a> gives a more complete description
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of the multi-threading execution environment.</p>
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<p>Multi-threading provides several advantages:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Programs which would otherwise block waiting for some external event can
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continue to respond if the blocking operation is placed in a separate thread.
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Multi-threading is usually an absolute requirement for these programs.</li>
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</ul>
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<ul>
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<li>Well-designed multi-threaded programs may execute faster than single-threaded
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programs, particularly on multi-processor hardware. Note, however, that poorly-designed
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multi-threaded programs are often slower that single-threaded programs.</li>
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</ul>
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<ul>
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<li>Some program designs may be easier to formulate using a multi-threaded approach.
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After all, the real world is asynchronous!</li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="dangers"></a>Dangers</h2>
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<p>Beyond the errors which can occur in single-threaded programs, multi-threaded
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programs are subject to additional errors:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="definitions.html#Race condition">Race conditions</a>.</li>
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<li><a href="definitions.html#Deadlock">Deadlock</a> (sometimes called "deadly
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embrace")</li>
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<li><a href="definitions.html#Priority failure">Priority failures</a> (priority
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inversion, infinite overtaking, starvation, etc.)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Every multi-threaded program must be designed carefully to avoid race conditions
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and deadlock. These aren't rare or exotic failures - they are virtually
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guaranteed to occur unless multi-threaded code is designed to avoid them. Priority
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failures are somewhat less common, but are none-the-less serious.</p>
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<p>The <a href="introduction.html">Boost.Threads design</a> attempts to minimize
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these errors, but they will still occur unless the programmer proactively designs
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to avoid them.</p>
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<h3><a name="testing-debugging"></a>Testing and debugging considerations</h3>
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<p>Multi-threaded programs are non-deterministic. In other words, the same program
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with the same input data may follow different execution paths each time it is
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invoked. That can make testing and debugging a nightmare:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Failures are often not repeatable.</li>
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<li>Probe effect causes debuggers to produce very different results from non-debug
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uses.</li>
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<li>Debuggers require special support to show thread state.</li>
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<li>Tests on a single processor system may give no indication of serious errors
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which would appear on multiprocessor systems, and visa versa. Thus test cases
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should include a varying number of processors.</li>
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<li>For programs which create a varying number of threads according to workload,
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tests which don't span the full range of possibilities may miss serious
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errors.</li>
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</ul>
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<h3><a name="head-start"></a>Getting a head start</h3>
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<p>Although it might appear that multi-threaded programs are inherently unreliable,
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many reliable multi-threaded programs do exist. Multi-threading techniques are
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known which lead to reliable programs.</p>
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<p>Design patterns for reliable multi-threaded programs, including the important
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<i>monitor</i> pattern, are presented in <cite> Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture
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Volume 2 - Patterns for Concurrent and Networked Objects</cite> [<a href=
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"bibliography.html#Schmidt-00">Schmidt 00</a>]. Many important multi-threading
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programming considerations (independent of threading library) are discussed
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in <cite>Programming with POSIX Threads</cite> [<a href="bibliography.html#Butenhof-97">Butenhof
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97</a>].</p>
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<p>Doing some reading before attempting multi-threaded designs will give you a
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head start toward reliable multi-threaded programs.</p>
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<h2><a name="library"></a>C++ Standard Library usage in multi-threaded programs</h2>
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<h3><a name="runtime-libraries"></a>Runtime libraries</h3>
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<p><b>Warning:</b> Multi-threaded programs such as those using <b> Boost.Threads</b>
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must link to <a href="definitions.html#Thread-safe"> thread-safe</a> versions
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of all runtime libraries used by the program, including the runtime library
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for the C++ Standard Library. Otherwise <a href="definitions.html#Race condition">race
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conditions</a> will occur when multiple threads simultaneously execute runtime
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library functions for <i>new</i>, <i>delete</i>, or other language features
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which imply shared state.</p>
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<h3><a name="non-thread-safe-functions"></a>Potentially non-thread-safe functions</h3>
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<p>Certain C++ Standard Library functions inherited from C are particular problems
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because they hold internal state between calls:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>rand</li>
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<li>strtok</li>
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<li>asctime</li>
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<li>ctime</li>
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<li>gmtime</li>
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<li>localtime</li>
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</ul>
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<p>It is possible to write thread-safe implementations of these by using <a href="thread_specific_ptr.html">thread-specific
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storage</a>, and several C++ compiler vendors do just that. The technique is
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well-know and is explained in [<a href=
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"bibliography.html#Butenhof-97">Buttenhof-97</a>].</p>
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<p>But at least one vendor (HP-UX) does not provide thread-safe implementations
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of the above functions in their otherwise thread-safe runtime library. Instead
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they provide replacement functions with different names and arguments.</p>
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<p><b>Recommendation:</b> For the most portable, yet thread-safe code, use Boost
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replacements for the problem functions. See the <a href=
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"../../random/index.html">Boost Random Number Library</a> and <a href=
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"../../tokenizer/index.htm">Boost Tokenizer Library</a>.</p>
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<h2><a name="common-requirements"></a>Common requirements for all Boost.Threads components</h2>
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<h3><a name="exceptions"></a>Exceptions</h3>
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<p><b>Boost.Threads</b> destructors never throw exceptions. Unless otherwise specified,
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other <b>Boost.Threads</b> functions that do not have an exception-specification
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may throw implementation-defined exceptions.</p>
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<p>In particular, <b>Boost.Threads</b> reports failure to allocate storage by
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throwing an exception of type std::bad_alloc, or a class derived from std::bad_alloc,
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failure to obtain thread resources other than memory by throwing an exception
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of type <a href=
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"thread_resource_error.html">boost::thread_resource_error</a>, and certain
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lock related failures by throwing an exception of type <a href=
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"lock_error.html">boost::lock_error</a></p>
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<p><b>Rationale:</b> Follows the C++ Standard Library practice of allowing all
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functions except destructors or other specified functions to throw exceptions
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on errors.</p>
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<h3><a name="non-copyable"></a>NonCopyable requirement</h3>
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<p><b>Boost.Threads</b> classes documented as meeting the NonCopyable requirement
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disallow copy construction and copy assignment. For the sake of exposition,
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the synopsis of such classes show private derivation from <a href="../../utility/utility.htm">
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boost::noncopyable</a>. Users should not depend on this derivation, however,
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as implementations are free to meet the NonCopyable requirement in other ways.</p>
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<hr>
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<p>Revised
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<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->
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05 November, 2001
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<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39359" -->
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</p>
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<p><i>© Copyright <a href="mailto:wekempf@cox.net">William E. Kempf</a> 2001-2002.
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All Rights Reserved.</i></p>
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<p>Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this software and its
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documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the
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above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
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and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. William E. Kempf
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makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose.
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It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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