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4608. sleep_for is not an observable behavior

Section: 32.4.5 [thread.thread.this] Status: New Submitter: jim x Opened: 2026-07-24 Last modified: 2026-07-26

Priority: Not Prioritized

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Discussion:

Consider this example:

#include <iostream>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>

int main() {
  std::cout << "start to sleep\n";
  std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(50000)); 
  std::cout << "continue after 50000ms\n";
  return 0;
}

According to 4.1.2 [intro.abstract] p8

The following specify the observable behavior of the program:

• Accesses through volatile glvalues are evaluated strictly according to the rules of the abstract machine.

• Data is delivered to the host environment to be written into files (See also: ISO/IEC 9899:2024, 7.23.3).

• The input and output dynamics of interactive devices shall take place in such a fashion that prompting output is actually delivered before a program waits for input. What constitutes an interactive device is implementation-defined.

The specification of sleep_for says:

Effects: Blocks the calling thread for the relative timeout (32.2.4 [thread.req.timing]) specified by rel_time.

This description of its effect doesn't fall under any of the observable behavior bullets. Does it mean, according to the "as-if" rule, that a conforming implementation can arbitrarily eliminate the call to sleep_for? However, this doesn't align with the intent of providing this function in the standard library.

This issue resembles the need to promote "std::filesystem operations" to be observable behaviors, as appealed in LWG 3669⁽ⁱ⁾. Guaranteed by implementations but not an observable behavior in the abstract machine can result in a conforming implementation eliminating the effect of sleep_for, which would make the program terminate quite early, merely holding the difference between two steady_clock::now as if sleep_for were not eliminated.

Proposed resolution: