I suppose a silly question but why can't the postmaster be initialized *before* we start all the other threads? Why did this start showing up now? I do agree that an atomic read/write would work here but it's iffy whether or not an atomic read/write will be more efficient than getting a lock. In general, a full memory barrier has to be established around the memory access. For most (though not all) X86 architecture that is automatic for properly aligned values, which we have here. I agree, it's usually a problem for non-X86 architectures. --- Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/xrootd/xrootd/pull/251#issuecomment-119360417 ######################################################################## Use REPLY-ALL to reply to list To unsubscribe from the XROOTD-DEV list, click the following link: https://listserv.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=XROOTD-DEV&A=1