Pthreads based program crashing on MacOS doesn't crash on Linux - pthreads

Question

I have a pthreads based program with 3 threads that crashes on MacOS (Darwin Kernel Version 19.6.0) within a few seconds. I was expecting the same behavior on Linux. But the program doesn't crash on Linux. I am left speculating if Linux has a different thread scheduling policy or if it is something else. Any pointers appreciated.
This is the program. If I don't use pthread mutex lock in the printer thread, it is supposed to crash because the linked list is left in an inconsistent state.
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<pthread.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<unistd.h>
#include "list.h"
#define RANGE_MIN 1
#define RANGE_MAX 10
pthread_t tid[3];
list_t list;
pthread_mutex_t queue_lock;
/* Return a uniformly random number in the range [low,high]. */
int random_range (unsigned const low, unsigned const high)
{
unsigned const range = high - low + 1;
return low + (int) (((double) range) * rand() / (RAND_MAX + 1.0));
}
/*
* consumer thread function
*/
void* consumer(void *arg)
{
static int val = 0;
while (1) {
//sleep(1);
pthread_mutex_lock(&queue_lock);
while (list.total_elem > 0)
consume_and_delete(&list);
pthread_mutex_unlock(&queue_lock);
}
}
void *producer(void *arg)
{
while (1) {
//sleep(1);
pthread_mutex_lock(&queue_lock);
while (list.total_elem < 10)
add_to_list(&list, random_range(RANGE_MIN, RANGE_MAX));
pthread_mutex_unlock(&queue_lock);
}
}
/*
* printer thread function
*/
void* printer(void *arg)
{
while (1) {
//pthread_mutex_lock(&queue_lock); //lines deliberately commented out to show the crash
print_list(&list);
//pthread_mutex_unlock(&queue_lock);
}
}
int main(void)
{
int ret;
if (pthread_mutex_init(&queue_lock, NULL) != 0) {
printf("\n mutex init failed\n");
return 1;
}
ret = pthread_create(&(tid[1]), NULL, &consumer, NULL);
if (ret != 0) {
printf("\ncan't create thread :[%s]", strerror(ret));
}
ret = pthread_create(&(tid[0]), NULL, &producer, NULL);
if (ret != 0) {
printf("\ncan't create thread :[%s]", strerror(ret));
}
ret = pthread_create(&(tid[2]), NULL, &printer, NULL);
if (ret != 0) {
printf("\ncan't create thread :[%s]", strerror(ret));
}
pthread_join(tid[0], NULL);
pthread_join(tid[1], NULL);
pthread_join(tid[2], NULL);
pthread_mutex_destroy(&queue_lock);
return 0;
}
For the sake of completeness, here is the code for list.h and list.c
ifndef __LIST_H__
#define __LIST_H__
typedef struct node_ {
int num;
struct node_ *next;
} node_t;
typedef struct list_ {
int total_elem;
node_t *head;
} list_t;
#define TRUE 1
#define FALSE 0
void add_to_list(list_t *list, int num);
node_t *allocate_new(int num);
void consume_and_delete(list_t *list);
void print_list(list_t *list);
#endif
list.c:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "list.h"
void add_to_list(list_t *list, int val)
{
node_t *tmp;
node_t *new;
new = allocate_new(val);
if (!new) {
printf("%s: allocation failure \n", __FUNCTION__);
}
printf("%s: Enqueueing %d\n", __FUNCTION__, new->num);
if (!list) {
return;
}
if (!list->head) {
list->total_elem++;
list->head = new;
return;
}
tmp = list->head;
while (tmp->next) {
tmp = tmp->next;
}
tmp->next = new;
list->total_elem++;
}
node_t *allocate_new(int num)
{
node_t *tmp;
tmp = malloc(sizeof(node_t));
if (!tmp) {
printf("%s: failed in malloc\n", __FUNCTION__);
return NULL;
}
tmp->num = num;
tmp->next = NULL;
return tmp;
}
/* reads from the front of the queue and deletes the element
*/
void consume_and_delete(list_t *list)
{
node_t *tmp, *next;
if (!list->head) {
return;
}
tmp = list->head;
next = tmp->next;
printf("%s: Dequeueing %d\n", __FUNCTION__,tmp->num);
list->head = next;
list->total_elem--;
free(tmp);
}
void print_list(list_t *list)
{
node_t *tmp;
if (!list->head) {
printf("%s: queue empty \n", __FUNCTION__);
}
tmp = list->head;
while (tmp) {
printf("%d ", tmp->num);
tmp = tmp->next;
}
printf("\n");
}
Makefile:
all: prodcon
prodcon: list.o prod_consume.o
gcc -g -o prodcon list.o prod_consume.o -lpthread
list.o: list.c list.h
gcc -g -c -o list.o list.c
prod_consume.o: prod_consume.c list.h
gcc -g -c -o prod_consume.o prod_consume.c
clean:
rm -f *.o ./prodcon
Note that if I un-comment pthread_mutex_lock and unlock calls in printer fn, the program runs without a crash on MacOS, as expected. But on Linux, even without un-commenting those lines in printer thread, it runs fine.
So my question. Is thread scheduling different in Linux. Or is is there some other reason?
Any reason the program runs fine on Linux, while it crahes on MacOS?

Answer 1

//lines deliberately commented out to show the crash
The print_list accesses the list without the lock; of course the code will intermittently crash, what did you expect?
on Linux, even without un-commenting those lines in printer thread, it runs fine.
It doesn't "run fine" -- it exercises undefined behavior, and will crash if you run enough times and the stars align to expose the data race.