# Checking Multi-Threaded Code

The pointer checker is not supported on macOS* systems.

A common assumption is that reading or writing a pointer is an atomic operation that cannot be interrupted by starting another thread. This is not the case with using the pointer checker to check pointers in multi-threaded modules.

When you read or write a pointer from memory, the bounds information associated with the pointer must also be read or written. Reading and writing bounds information takes multiple instructions. While a thread is in the process of writing a pointer and its bounds, it could be swapped out for another thread. If that thread then writes to the same pointer, you can end up with a pointer and bounds information that are not synchronized—the pointer is from one thread and the bounds information is from another thread.

To synchronize the pointer and bounds information in multi-threaded code, use a locking mechanism, such as a mutex or critical section when reading or writing a pointer in memory locations shared by more than one thread. Typically, accesses to shared memory are already protected this way.

If your application relies on a pointer read or a pointer write that is atomic and performs reads or writes to shared pointers without such locking, you can get extraneous bounds violations unless you protect these accesses.

Parent topic: Using the Pointer Checker