two = new TestThread2(z, "two"); } } class TestThread1 extends Thread { private int i; TestThread1(ThreadGroup g, String name)...

out.println(getName() + " f()");
}
}

1 The Java Programming Language, by Ken Arnold and James Gosling, Addison-Wesley 1996 pp 179.
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class TestThread2 extends TestThread1 {
TestThread2(ThreadGroup g, String name) {
super(g, name);
start();
}
public void run() {
ThreadGroup g =
getThreadGroup().getParent().getParent();
g.list();
Thread[] gAll = new Thread[g.activeCount()];
g.enumerate(gAll);
for(int i = 0; i < gAll.length; i++) {
gAll[i].setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY);
((TestThread1)gAll[i]).f();
}
g.list();
}
} ///:~
In main( ), several ThreadGroups are created, leafing off from each other: x has no argument but its name (a String), so it is automatically placed in the “system” thread group, while y is under x and z is under y. Note that initialization happens in textual order so this code is legal.
Two threads are created and placed in different thread groups. TestThread1 doesn’t have a run( ) method but it does have an f( ) that modifies the thread and prints something so you can see it was called. TestThread2 is a subclass of TestThread1 and its run( ) is fairly elaborate. It first gets the thread group of the current thread, then moves up the heritage tree by two levels using getParent( ). (This is contrived since I purposely place the TestThread2 object two levels down in the hierarchy.) At this point, an array of handles to Threads is created using the method activeCount( ) to ask how many threads are in this thread group and all the child thread groups. The enumerate( ) method places handles to all of these threads in the array gAll, then I simply move through the entire array calling the f( ) method for each thread, as well as modifying the priority. Thus, a thread in a “leaf”
thread group modifies threads in parent thread groups.
The debugging method list( ) prints all the information about a thread group to standard output and is helpful when investigating thread group behavior. Here’s the output of the program:
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=x,maxpri=10]
Thread[one,5,x]
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=y,maxpri=10]
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=z,maxpri=10]
Thread[two,5,z]
one f()
two f()
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=x,maxpri=10]
Thread[one,1,x]
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=y,maxpri=10]
java.lang.ThreadGroup[name=z,maxpri=10]
Thread[two,1,z]
Not only does list( ) print the class name of ThreadGroup or Thread, but it also prints the thread group name and its maximum priority. For threads, the thread name is printed, Chapter 14: Multiple Threads
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followed by the thread priority and the group that it belongs to. Note that list( ) indents the threads and thread groups to indicate that they are children of the un-indented thread group.
You can see that f( ) is called by the TestThread2 run( ) method, so it’s obvious that all threads in a group are vulnerable. However, you can access only the threads that branch off from your own system thread group tree, and perhaps this is what is meant by “safety.”
You cannot access anyone else’s system thread group tree.
Controlling thread groups
Putting aside the safety issue, one thing thread groups do seem to be useful for is control: you can perform certain operations on an entire thread group with a single command. The following example demonstrates this and the restrictions on priorities within thread groups.
The commented numbers in parentheses provide a reference to compare to the output.
//: ThreadGroup1.java
// How thread groups control priorities
// of the threads inside them.
public class ThreadGroup1 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Get the system thread & print its Info:
ThreadGroup sys =
Thread.currentThread().getThreadGroup();
sys.list(); // (1)
// Reduce the system thread group priority:
sys.setMaxPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY - 1);
// Increase the main thread priority:
Thread curr = Thread.currentThread();
curr.setPriority(curr.getPriority() + 1);
sys.list(); // (2)
// Attempt to set a new group to the max:
ThreadGroup g1 = new ThreadGroup("g1");
g1.setMaxPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
// Attempt to set a new thread to the max:
Thread t = new Thread(g1, "A");
t.setPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
g1.list(); // (3)
// Reduce g1's max priority, then attempt
// to increase it:
g1.setMaxPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY - 2);
g1.setMaxPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
g1.list(); // (4)
// Attempt to set a new thread to the max:
t = new Thread(g1, "B");
t.setPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
g1.list(); // (5)
// Lower the max priority below the default
// thread priority:
g1.setMaxPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY + 2);