Re: Clarification of GTK/GDK locking pre GTK 4.0

[richard boaz <ivor boaz gmail com>]

if you're only using GTK+ for an application, and you're not using
threads directly, then you can skip the gdk_threads_add_* API, and use
the GMainLoop API for idle and timeout sources.

not using threads directly?  what's an indirect thread? 

i too was confused that it seems g_idle_add() is not recommended in this discussion.  but i use it everywhere in my code to ensure that g_idle_add()ed callbacks execute as part of the main loop, so to guarantee single concurrency, alleviating the need for a lock, whatever its name (and it works just grand).

perhaps better explained by example situations?  which situation disallows g_idle_add(), requiring GDK locks/etc.?  and when is g_idle_add() 100% thread-safe?

i know you've tried to explain this in the above, but i don't get the difference (and would really like to make sure i understand this thoroughly).

ricahrd