$Id$

This directory contains a program for benchmarking various
synchronization and concurrent programming mechanisms in ACE.

To build the program, do a make on the top level Makefile (or,
on NT, open Synch_Tests.dsw and build evey project in it.)
There are several modules which perform different benchmarking
measurements in subdirectories.  Here is a short description of all
the subdirectories:

  Synch_lib:    This directory contains interface definitions required
                by both main program (synch_driver) and other modules.
  Base_Test:    This directory contains a set of baseline tests.  They
                measure the time to obtain a lock without contension,
                or trying to objtain a lock with contension.
  Perf_Test:    This directory contains a set of performance tests.
                They measure the opeation performed by spawning a
                bunch of threads and let these threads compete with
                each other in obtaining a lock.

There'll always be a "Method" object in each module subdirectory.
They defines the method used in benchmarking and usually takes some
options which can be defined in the 'svc.conf' file.  Beside from this
"Method" object, there are also a lot of "Test" objects that define
the mechanism to be tested.

Executing the program:  the synch_driver performs various benchmarking
according to the "script" defined in 'svc.conf' file.  All command
line options applicable to ACE's Service_Config class can be used.

The entries in svc.conf file are always in groups.  Each group
consists of several svc.conf entries.  The first entry in each group
is the "Method" entry which defines the methodology used in the test.
The rest of the entries are "Test" entries which define the mechanism
to be test using the "Method".

At this moment, you can not have entries with the same object (either
"Method" object or "Test" object) in one svc.conf file.  Therefore, at
this moment, there can only be two groups in the svc.conf.  Of them,
each "Test" can only be performed once.  Therefore, there's no way to
benchmark using the same method with differnt configurations within
the same svc.conf file.  However, this can be easily overcome by
defining multiple svc.conf files and invoking the synch_driver with
different svc.conf file.

There'll be more detailed description about how a "Method" object can
be configured in respective subdirectory.