DispatchSource (a.k.a. dispatch_source_t) vs kevent

is DispatchSource built on top of kevent?

Just out of curiosity, why does this matter to you?

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Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

a) just curious as you 😉

b) if you search apple docs how to handle file system changes - it directs you to kevents not to GCD (legacy stuff)

c) documentation on DispatchSource does not explain event semantics too well, while `man kevent` does. wanted to know they are semantically equal.

b) if you search apple docs how to handle file system changes - it directs you to kevents not to GCD (legacy stuff)

Quite. That’s just because kevents were introduced before Dispatch.

I’d appreciate you filing bugs against docs like this. There are some good reasons to use kevents, like compatibility with other platforms, but the bulk of our developers should use dispatch sources for this sort of thing. Using kevents correctly is really hard.

c) documentation on

DispatchSource

does not explain event semantics too well, while

man kevent

does. wanted to know they are semantically equal.

Again, if you find the Dispatch documentation inadequate that’s totally bugworthy.

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—
Quinn “The Eskimo!”
Apple Developer Relations, Developer Technical Support, Core OS/Hardware

let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@apple.com"

Question: If DispatchSource built on top of kevent, how come it won't blocking thread? it seems it runs different routine of pthread mechanism to create a thread to execute(if handler is executed on different thread) instead of blocking current thread.