This routine sets the scheduling parameters associated with the scheduling policy attribute of the thread attributes object specified by the attr argument. Scheduling Priority Use the sched_priority field of a sched_param structure to set a thread's execution priority. The effect of the scheduling priority you assign depends on the scheduling policy specified for the attributes object specified by the attr argument. By default, a created thread inherits the priority of the thread calling pthread_create(). To specify a priority using this routine, scheduling inheritance must be disabled at the time the thread is created. Before calling pthread_create(), call pthread_ attr_setinheritsched() and specify the value PTHREAD_EXPLICIT_ SCHED for the inherit argument. An application specifies priority only to express the urgency of executing the thread relative to other threads. Do not use priority to control mutual exclusion when you are accessing shared data. With a sufficient number of processors present, all ready threads, regardless of priority, execute simultaneously. Even on a uniprocessor, a lower priority thread could either execute before or be interleaved with a higher priority thread, for example due to page fault behavior. See <REFERENCE>(intro_ threads_chap) and <REFERENCE>(threads_concepts_chap) for more information. Valid values of the sched_priority scheduling parameter depend on the chosen scheduling policy. Use the POSIX routines sched_get_ priority_min() or sched_get_priority_max() to determine the low and high limits of each policy. Additionally, the Threads Library provides nonportable priority range constants, as follows: Policy Low High SCHED_FIFO PRI_FIFO_MIN PRI_FIFO_MAX SCHED_RR PRI_RR_MIN PRI_RR_MAX SCHED_OTHER PRI_OTHER_MIN PRI_OTHER_MAX SCHED_FG_NP PRI_FG_MIN_NP PRI_FG_MAX_NP SCHED_BG_NP PRI_BG_MIN_NP PRI_BG_MAX_NP The default priority varies by platform. On Tru64 UNIX, the default is 19 (that is, the POSIX priority of a normal timeshare process). On other platforms, the default priority is the midpoint between PRI_FG_MIN_NP and PRI_FG_MAX_NP.