InheritableThreadLocal

背景

在ThreadLocal介绍中，我们从源码层面上分析了ThreadLocal原理及设计。但由于ThreadLocal设计之初就是为了绑定当前线程，如果希望当前线程的ThreadLocal能够被子线程使用，InheritableThreadLocal应运而生。

关于InheritableThreadLocal

InheritableThreadLocal继承自ThreadLocal，在子线程被创建时从父线程获取父线程中保存的最初始值。

上源码：

/**
 * This class extends <tt>ThreadLocal</tt> to provide inheritance of values
 * from parent thread to child thread: when a child thread is created, the
 * child receives initial values for all inheritable thread-local variables
 * for which the parent has values.  Normally the child's values will be
 * identical to the parent's; however, the child's value can be made an
 * arbitrary function of the parent's by overriding the <tt>childValue</tt>
 * method in this class.
 *
 * <p>Inheritable thread-local variables are used in preference to
 * ordinary thread-local variables when the per-thread-attribute being
 * maintained in the variable (e.g., User ID, Transaction ID) must be
 * automatically transmitted to any child threads that are created.
 *
 * @author  Josh Bloch and Doug Lea
 * @see     ThreadLocal
 * @since   1.2
 */

public class InheritableThreadLocal<T> extends ThreadLocal<T> {
    /**
     * Computes the child's initial value for this inheritable thread-local
     * variable as a function of the parent's value at the time the child
     * thread is created.  This method is called from within the parent
     * thread before the child is started.
     * <p>
     * This method merely returns its input argument, and should be overridden
     * if a different behavior is desired.
     *
     * @param parentValue the parent thread's value
     * @return the child thread's initial value
     */
    protected T childValue(T parentValue) {
        return parentValue;
    }

    /**
     * Get the map associated with a ThreadLocal.
     *
     * @param t the current thread
     */
    ThreadLocalMap getMap(Thread t) {
       return t.inheritableThreadLocals;
    }

    /**
     * Create the map associated with a ThreadLocal.
     *
     * @param t the current thread
     * @param firstValue value for the initial entry of the table.
     */
    void createMap(Thread t, T firstValue) {
        t.inheritableThreadLocals = new ThreadLocalMap(this, firstValue);
    }
}

如何获取父线程传递值

同ThreadLocal，Thread拥有inheritableThreadLocals的ThreadLocalMap引用变量

/* ThreadLocal values pertaining to this thread. This map is maintained
     * by the ThreadLocal class. */
    ThreadLocal.ThreadLocalMap threadLocals = null;

    /*
     * InheritableThreadLocal values pertaining to this thread. This map is
     * maintained by the InheritableThreadLocal class.
     */
    ThreadLocal.ThreadLocalMap inheritableThreadLocals = null;

在创建子线程并初始化时，传递父线程inheritableThreadLocals给子线程：

/**
     * Allocates a new {@code Thread} object. This constructor has the same
     * effect as {@linkplain #Thread(ThreadGroup,Runnable,String) Thread}
     * {@code (null, null, gname)}, where {@code gname} is a newly generated
     * name. Automatically generated names are of the form
     * {@code "Thread-"+}<i>n</i>, where <i>n</i> is an integer.
     */
    public Thread() {
        init(null, null, "Thread-" + nextThreadNum(), 0);
    }

在init方法中,通过ThreadLocal的createInheritedMap函数，把parent.inheritableThreadLocal传给子线程：

/**
     * Initializes a Thread.
     *
     * @param g the Thread group
     * @param target the object whose run() method gets called
     * @param name the name of the new Thread
     * @param stackSize the desired stack size for the new thread, or
     *        zero to indicate that this parameter is to be ignored.
     * @param acc the AccessControlContext to inherit, or
     *            AccessController.getContext() if null
     */
    private void init(ThreadGroup g, Runnable target, String name,
                      long stackSize, AccessControlContext acc) {
    ...
    ...
    setPriority(priority);
        if (parent.inheritableThreadLocals != null)
            this.inheritableThreadLocals =
                ThreadLocal.createInheritedMap(parent.inheritableThreadLocals);
        /* Stash the specified stack size in case the VM cares */
        this.stackSize = stackSize;

        /* Set thread ID */
        tid = nextThreadID();
    }

createInheritedMap（）函数：

/**
     * Factory method to create map of inherited thread locals.
     * Designed to be called only from Thread constructor.
     *
     * @param  parentMap the map associated with parent thread
     * @return a map containing the parent's inheritable bindings
     */
    static ThreadLocalMap createInheritedMap(ThreadLocalMap parentMap) {
        return new ThreadLocalMap(parentMap);
    }

ThreadLocalMap初始化中，复制保存父线程中传递的ThreadLocalMap，从而达到父子线程值传递：

/**
         * Construct a new map including all Inheritable ThreadLocals
         * from given parent map. Called only by createInheritedMap.
         *
         * @param parentMap the map associated with parent thread.
         */
        private ThreadLocalMap(ThreadLocalMap parentMap) {
            Entry[] parentTable = parentMap.table;
            int len = parentTable.length;
            setThreshold(len);
            table = new Entry[len];

            for (int j = 0; j < len; j++) {
                Entry e = parentTable[j];
                if (e != null) {
                    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
                    ThreadLocal<Object> key = (ThreadLocal<Object>) e.get();
                    if (key != null) {
                        Object value = key.childValue(e.value);
                        Entry c = new Entry(key, value);
                        int h = key.threadLocalHashCode & (len - 1);
                        while (table[h] != null)
                            h = nextIndex(h, len);
                        table[h] = c;
                        size++;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

总结

InheritableThreadLocal主要用于子线程创建时，需要自动继承父线程的ThreadLocal变量，达到值传递的目的。