Java Multithreading – Force Stopping ExecutorService Threads

executorservicejavamultithreading

My code:


String[] torrentFiles = new File("/root/torrents/").list();

        if(torrentFiles.length == 0 || torrentFiles == null)
        {
            System.exit(0);
        }

        ex = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(3);

        for(String torrentFile : torrentFiles)
        {
            ex.submit(new DownloadTorrent("/root/torrents/" + torrentFile));
        }

        ex.shutdown();

        try
        {
            ex.awaitTermination(30, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
        }
        catch(InterruptedException ex1)
        {
            Logger.getLogger(Main.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex1);
        }

But sometimes torrent downloading takes unknown time value and «awaitTermination» not works as I want. I need to stop all executed threads instantly after half an hour but as I know «awaitTermination» just only use interrupt() method which works only in loops or waiting. So timeout not works if this moment happens. So, how to?

Best Answer

Instant thread termination is never guaranteed, unless the thread checks periodically for isInterrupted() flag (or is waiting in interruptable method, i.e. which throws InterruptedException).

Consider implementing your worker threads in manner, when they check periodically for isInterrupted(). This may be something like that:

public void run() { 
  byte[] data;
  do {
     data = receiveDataChunk(timeout);
     processData(data);
  } while(!isInterrupted() && data != null);
}

Related Solutions

Java ExecutorService – How to Interrupt Threads

In order to do this, you need to submit() a task to an ExecutorService, rather than calling execute(). When you do this, a Future is returned that can be used to manipulate the scheduled task. In particular, you can call cancel(true) on the associated Future to interrupt a task that is currently executing (or skip execution altogether if the task hasn't started running yet).

By the way, the object returned by Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor() is actually an ExecutorService.

Java stop Callable submitted to ExecutorService – How to

Future.cancel(true) and ExecutorService.shutdownNow() use thread interruption. As long as you don't make uninterruptable blocking calls in your task, all you need is to handle interrupted condition correctly, something like this:

for(int i = 0; i < 1000; i++){
    // Uses isInterrupted() to keep interrupted status set
    if (Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted()) {
        // Cannot use InterruptedException since it's checked
        throw new RuntimeException(); 
    }
    System.out.println(i);
}

If you make uninterruptable blocking calls (such as network IO), things become more complex, you need to interrupt them manually somehow, for example, by closing the underlying sockets.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java ExecutorService – How to Interrupt Threads

Java stop Callable submitted to ExecutorService – How to

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