Terminate Thread in Threadpool

Question

i've got an application with a possible number of threads. basicly the threads should work this:

• Main Thread
• CalculationThread
• CalculationThread
• CalculationThread

Adding / Executing those threads to a FixedThreadPool isn't the problem. The Thread itself calls a certain function in the Mainthread to submit the results. After this step, the thread should sleep until it will be called again for the next calucation.

The Mainthread holds a reference to a CalculationThread to submit updates to the thread and readd it to the pool to start the next calculation.

My Problem: How can I enforce a timeout for a certain thread? The enforcement of this timeout must also work, if a endless loop occurs

Answer 1

You cannot enforce the timeout without cooperation from the thread, at least not in a sane way. You should code your calculation tasks so that they comply with the Java interruption mechanism. Basically, that means occasionally checking the Thread.interrupted return value and aborting on true .

The only other option is the ham-handed – and deprecated – Thread.stop , which can wreak general chaos, especially when done on a pool-managed thread.