A synchronization mutex (mutual exclusion). This is used to synchronize multiple [Thread]s, and is equivalent to a binary [Semaphore]. It guarantees that only one thread can access a critical section at a time.
This is a reentrant mutex, meaning that it can be locked multiple times by one thread, provided it also unlocks it as many times.
[b]Warning:[/b] Mutexes must be used carefully to avoid deadlocks.
[b]Warning:[/b] To ensure proper cleanup without crashes or deadlocks, the following conditions must be met:
- When a [Mutex]'s reference count reaches zero and it is therefore destroyed, no threads (including the one on which the destruction will happen) must have it locked.
- When a [Thread]'s reference count reaches zero and it is therefore destroyed, it must not have any mutex locked.
[b]Note:[/b] If a thread called [method lock] or [method try_lock] multiple times while already having ownership of the mutex, it must also call [method unlock] the same number of times in order to unlock it correctly.
[b]Warning:[/b] Calling [method unlock] more times that [method lock] on a given thread, thus ending up trying to unlock a non-locked mutex, is wrong and may causes crashes or deadlocks.