Intel® Threading Building Blocks Release Notes and New Features

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Updated 7/16/2020
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This page provides the current Release Notes for Threading Building Blocks (TBB). The notes are categorized by year, from newest to oldest, with individual releases listed within each year.

Click a version to expand it into a summary of new features and changes in that version since the last release, and access the download buttons for the detailed release notes, which include important information, such as pre-requisites, software compatibility, installation instructions, and known issues.

You can copy a link to a specific version's section by clicking the chain icon next to its name.

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For questions or technical support, visit Intel® Software Developer Support.

2020

Update 3

Release Notes

What's New in this release:

Changes affecting backward compatibility:

  • Changed body type concept of the flow::input_node. Set TBB_DEPRECATED_INPUT_NODE_BODY to 1 to compile with the previous concept of the body type.

Bugs fixed:

Open-source contributions integrated:

  • Fixed an issue in TBBBuild.cmake that causes the build with no arguments to fail (https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB/pull/233) by tttapa.
  • Added cmake/{TBBConfig,TBBConfigVersion}.cmake to Git ignore list (https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB/pull/239) by Eisuke Kawashima.

Downloads:

  • TBB 2020 U3 is available as a part of Intel(R) Parallel Studio XE 2020 Update 2.
  • In addition, you can download the latest TBB open source version from https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB.

Update 2

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

  • Cross-allocator copying constructor and copy assignment operator for concurrent_vector are deprecated.
  • Added input_node to the flow graph API. It acts like a source_node except for being inactive by default; source_node is deprecated.
  • Allocator template parameter for flow graph nodes is deprecated. Set TBB_DEPRECATED_FLOW_NODE_ALLOCATOR to 1 to avoid compilation errors.
  • Flow graph preview hetero-features are deprecated.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed the task affinity mechanism to prevent unlimited memory consumption in case the number of threads is explicitly decreased.
  • Fixed memory leak related NUMA support functionality in task_arena.

Downloads:

  • TBB 2020 U2 is available as a part of Intel(R) Parallel Studio XE 2020 Update 1.
  • In addition, you can download the latest TBB open source version from https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB.

Update 1

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

Preview features:

  • The NUMA support library (tbbbind) no more depends on the main TBB library.

Bugs fixed:

Downloads:

Initial Release

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

Deprecation:

  • Multiple APIs are deprecated. For details, please see Deprecated Features appendix in the TBB reference manual.

New functionality:

  • Added warning notifications when the deprecated functionality is used.
  • Added C++17 deduction guides for flow graph nodes.

Preview Features:

  • The option to create a task_arena tied to a specific NUMA node simplifies development of scalable NUMA-aware applications.
  • Added a possibility to suspend task execution at a specific point and resume it later thus reducing the code complexity when integrating I/O threads in compute intensive applications.
  • Extended the flow graph API to simplify connecting nodes.
  • Added isolated_task_group class that allows multiple threads to add and execute tasks sharing the same isolation.
  • Added erase() by heterogeneous keys for concurrent ordered containers.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed the emplace() method of concurrent unordered containers to destroy a temporary element that was not inserted.
  • Fixed a bug in the merge() method of concurrent unordered containers.
  • Fixed behavior of a continue_node that follows buffering nodes.
  • Fixed compilation error caused by missed stdlib.h when CMake integration is used (https://github.com/intel/tbb/issues/195). Inspired by Andrew Penkrat.

Open-source contributions integrated:

2019

Update 9

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

  • Improved async_node to never block a thread that sends a message through its gateway.
  • Added support of Windows* to the CMake module TBBInstallConfig.

Preview Features:

  • Added ordered associative containers: concurrent_{map,multimap,set,multiset} (requires C++11).

Update 8

Release Notes

Bug fixed:

Downloads

Update 7

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

  • Added TBBMALLOC_SET_HUGE_SIZE_THRESHOLD parameter to set the lower bound for allocations that are not released back to OS unless a cleanup is explicitly requested.
  • Added zip_iterator::base() method to get the tuple of underlying iterators.
  • Improved async_node to never block a thread that sends a message through its gateway.
  • Extended decrement port of the tbb::flow::limiter_node to accept messages of integral types.
  • Added support of Windows* to the CMake module TBBInstallConfig.
  • Added packaging of CMake configuration files to TBB packages built using build/build.py script ( https://github.com/intel/tbb/issues/141).

Changes affecting backward compatibility:

  • Removed the number_of_decrement_predecessors parameter from the constructor of flow::limiter_node. To allow its usage, set TBB_DEPRECATED_LIMITER_NODE_CONSTRUCTOR macro to 1.

Preview Features:

  • Added ordered associative containers: concurrent_{map,multimap,set,multiset} (requires C++11).

Open-source contributions integrated:

Downloads

Update 6

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

  • Added support for Microsoft* Visual Studio* 2019.
  • Added support for enqueuing tbb::task into tbb::task_arena ( https://github.com/01org/tbb/issues/116).
  • Improved support for allocator propagation on concurrent_hash_map assigning and swapping.
  • Improved scalable_allocation_command cleanup operations to release more memory buffered by the calling thread.
  • Separated allocation of small and large objects into distinct memory regions, which helps to reduce excessive memory caching inside the TBB allocator.

Preview Features:

  • Removed template class gfx_factory from the flow graph API.

Downloads

  • TBB 2019 U6 is available as a part of Intel(R) Parallel Studio XE 2019 Update 4.
  • In addition, you can download the latest TBB open source version from https://github.com/01org/tbb/releases.

Update 5

Release Notes

What's New in this release:

  • Associating a task_scheduler_observer with an implicit or explicit task arena is now a fully supported feature.
  • Added a CMake module TBBInstallConfig that allows to generate and install CMake configuration files for TBB packages. Inspired by Hans Johnson (https://github.com/01org/tbb/pull/119).
  • Added node handles, methods merge() and unsafe_extract() to concurrent unordered containers.
  • Added constructors with Compare argument to concurrent_priority_queue (https://github.com/01org/tbb/issues/109).
  • Controlling the stack size of worker threads is now supported for Universal Windows Platform.
  • Improved tbb::zip_iterator to work with algorithms that swap values via iterators.
  • Improved support for user-specified allocators in concurrent_hash_map, including construction of allocator-aware data types.
  • For ReaderWriterMutex types, upgrades and downgrades now succeed if the mutex is already in the requested state. Inspired by Niadb (https://github.com/01org/tbb/pull/122).

Preview Features:

  • The task_scheduler_observer::may_sleep() method has been removed.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed the issue with a pipeline parallel filter executing serially if it follows a thread-bound filter.
  • Fixed a performance regression observed when multiple parallel algorithms start simultaneously.

Downloads

Update 4

Release Notes

What's New in this release:

  • global_control class is now a fully supported feature.
  • Added deduction guides for tbb containers: concurrent_hash_map, concurrent_unordered_map, concurrent_unordered_set.
  • Added tbb::scalable_memory_resource function returning std::pmr::memory_resource interface to the TBB memory allocator.
  • Added tbb::cache_aligned_resource class that implements std::pmr::memory_resource with cache alignment and no false sharing.
  • Added rml::pool_msize function returning the usable size of a memory block allocated from a given memory pool.
  • Added default and copy constructors for tbb::counting_iterator and tbb::zip_iterator.
  • Added TBB_malloc_replacement_log function to obtain the status of dynamic memory allocation replacement (Windows* only).
  • CMake configuration file now supports release-only and debug-only configurations (https://github.com/01org/tbb/issues/113).
  • TBBBuild CMake module takes the C++ version from CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed compilation for tbb::concurrent_vector when used with std::pmr::polymorphic_allocator.

Open-source contributions integrated:

Downloads

  • Intel TBB 2019 U4 is available as a part of Intel(R) Parallel Studio XE 2019 Update 3.
  • In addition, you can download the latest Intel TBB open source version from https://github.com/01org/tbb/releases.

Update 3

Release Notes

What's New in this release:

  • Added tbb::transform_iterator.
  • Added new Makefile target 'profile' to flow graph examples enabling additional support for Intel® Parallel Studio XE tools.
  • Added TBB_MALLOC_DISABLE_REPLACEMENT environment variable to switch off dynamic memory allocation replacement on Windows*. Inspired by a contribution from Edward Lam.

Preview Features:

  • Extended flow graph API to support relative priorities for functional nodes, specified as an optional parameter to the node constructors.

Open-source contributions integrated:

Downloads

Update 2

Release Notes

What’s New in this release::

  • Threading Building Blocks 2019 Update 2 includes functional and security updates. Users should update to the latest version.
  • Added constructors with HashCompare argument to concurrent_hash_map (https://github.com/01org/tbb/pull/63).
  • Added overloads for parallel_reduce with default partitioner and user-supplied context.
  • Added deduction guides for tbb containers: concurrent_vector, concurrent_queue, concurrent_bounded_queue, concurrent_priority_queue.
  • Reallocation of memory objects >1MB now copies and frees memory if the size is decreased twice or more, trading performance off for reduced memory usage.
  • After a period of sleep, TBB worker threads now prefer returning to their last used task arena.

Bugs fixed:

Update 1

Release Notes

What's New in this release:

  • Doxygen documentation could be built with 'make doxygen' command now.

Changes affecting backward compatibility:

  • Enforced 8 byte alignment for tbb::atomic and tbb::atomic. On IA-32 architecture it may cause layout changes in structures that use these types.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed an issue with dynamic memory allocation replacement on Windows* occurred for some versions of ucrtbase.dll.
  • Fixed possible deadlock in tbbmalloc cleanup procedure during process shutdown.
  • Fixed usage of std::uncaught_exception() deprecated in C++17(https://github.com/01org/tbb/issues/67).
  • Fixed a crash when a local observer is activated after an arena observer.
  • Fixed compilation of task_group.h by Visual C++* 15.7 with /permissive- option (https://github.com/01org/tbb/issues/53).
  • Fixed tbb4py to avoid dependency on Intel(R) C++ Compiler shared libraries.
  • Fixed compilation for Anaconda environment with GCC 7.3 and higher.

Downloads

Initial Release

Release Notes

One of the best known C++ threading libraries Threading Building Blocks (TBB) was recently updated to a new release 2019. The updated version contains several key new features when compared to the previous 2018 Update 5 release.

What's New in this release:

  • Lightweight policy for functional nodes in the flow graph is now a fully supported feature.
  • Reservation support in flow::write_once_node and flow::overwrite_node is now a fully supported feature.
  • Support for Flow Graph Analyzer and improvements for Intel(R) VTune(TM) Amplifier become a regular feature enabled by TBB_USE_THREADING_TOOLS macro.
  • Added support for std::new_handler in the replacement functions for global operator new.
  • Added C++14 constructors to concurrent unordered containers.
  • Added tbb::counting_iterator and tbb::zip_iterator.
  • Fixed multiple -Wextra warnings in TBB source files.

Preview Features:

  • Extracting nodes from a flow graph is deprecated and disabled by default. To enable, use TBB_DEPRECATED_FLOW_NODE_EXTRACTION macro.

Changes affecting backward compatibility:

  • Due to internal changes in the flow graph classes, recompilation is recommended for all binaries that use the flow graph.

Open-source contributions integrated:

  • Added support for OpenBSD by Anthony J. Bentley.

2018

Update 6

Release Notes

What’s New in this release:

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed an issue with dynamic memory allocation replacement on Windows* occurred for some versions of ucrtbase.dll.

Update 5

Release Notes

Changes (w.r.t. Intel TBB 2018 Update 4):

Preview Features:

  • Added user event tracing API for Intel(R) VTune(TM) Amplifier and Flow Graph Analyzer.

Bugs fixed:

Open-source contributions integrated:

Downloads

Update 4

Release Notes

Changes (w.r.t. Intel TBB 2018 Update 3):

Preview Features:

  • Improved support for Flow Graph Analyzer and Intel(R) VTune(TM) Amplifier in the task scheduler and generic parallel algorithms.
  • Default device set for opencl_node now includes all the devices from the first available OpenCL* platform.
  • Added lightweight policy for functional nodes in the flow graph. It indicates that the node body has little work and should, if possible be executed immediately upon receiving a message, avoiding task scheduling overhead.

Update 3

Release Notes

Changes (w.r.t. Intel TBB 2018 Update 2):

Preview Features:

  • Added template class blocked_rangeNd for a generic multi-dimensional range (requires C++11). Inspired by a contribution from Jeff Hammond.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed a crash with dynamic memory allocation replacement on Windows* for applications using system() function.
  • Fixed parallel_deterministic_reduce to split range correctly when used with static_partitioner.
  • Fixed a synchronization issue in task_group::run_and_wait() which caused a simultaneous call to task_group::wait() to return prematurely.

Downloads

Update 2

Release Notes

Changes (w.r.t. Intel TBB 2018 Update 1):

  • Added support for Android* NDK r16, macOS* 10.13, Fedora* 26.
  • Binaries for Universal Windows Driver (vc14_uwd) now link with static Microsoft* runtime libraries, and are only available in commercial releases.
  • Extended flow graph documentation with more code samples.

Preview Features:

  • Added a Python* module for multi-processing computations in numeric Python* libraries.

Bugs fixed:

  • Fixed constructors of concurrent_hash_map to be exception-safe.
  • Fixed auto-initialization in the main thread to be cleaned up at shutdown.
  • Fixed a crash when tbbmalloc_proxy is used together with dbghelp.
  • Fixed static_partitioner to assign tasks properly in case of nested parallelism.

Update 1

Release Notes

The updated version (Open Source release only) contains these additions:

  • lambda-friendly overloads for parallel_scan.
  • support of static and simple partitioners in parallel_deterministic_reduce.

We also introduced a few preview features:

  • initial support for Flow Graph Analyzer to do parallel_for.
  • reservation support in overwrite_node and write_once_node.

Bugs fixed

  • Fixed a potential deadlock scenario in the flow graph that affected Intel® TBB 2018 Initial Release.

Initial Release

Release Notes

One of the best known C++ threading libraries Intel® Threading Building Blocks (Intel® TBB) was recently updated to a new release 2018. The updated version contains several key new features when compared to the previous 2017 Update 7 release (https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/whats-new-intel-threading-building-blocks-2017-update-7).

Licensing

Intel® TBB outbound license for commercial support is Intel Simplified Software License: https://software.intel.com/en-us/license/intel-simplified-software-license. The license for open source distribution has not changed.

Tasks

Intel® TBB is now fully supports this_task_arena::isolate() function. Also, this_task_arena::isolate() function and task_arena::execute() methods were extended to pass on the value returned by the executed functor (this feature requires C++11). The task_arena::enqueue() and task_group::run() methods extended to accept move-only functors.

Flow Graph

A flow graph now spawns all tasks into the same task arena and waiting for graph completion also happens in that arena.

There are some changes affecting backward compatibility:

  • Internal layout changes in some flow graph classes
  • Several undocumented methods are removed from class graph, including set_active() and is_active().
  • Due to incompatible changes, the namespace version is updated for the flow graph; recompilation is recommended for all binaries that use the flow graph classes.

We also introduced a few preview features:

  • opencl_node can be used with any graph object; class opencl_graph is removed.
  • graph::wait_for_all() now automatically waits for all not yet consumed async_msg objects.

Flow Graph Analyzer (FGA) is available as a technology preview in Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2018 and as a feature of Intel® Advisor /content/www/us/en/develop/articles/getting-started-with-flow-graph-analyzer.html.The support for FGA tool in async_node, opencl_node and composite_node has been improved.

Introduction of Parallel STL

Parallel STL, an implementation of the C++ standard library algorithms with support for execution policies, has been introduced. Parallel STL relies on Intel® TBB underneath. For more information, see Getting Started with Parallel STL (https://software.intel.com/en-us/get-started-with-pstl).

Additional support for Android*, UWP, macOS
  • Added support for Android* NDK r15, r15b.
  • Added support for Universal Windows Platform.
  • Increased minimally supported version of macOS* (MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET) to 10.11.
Bugs fixed
  • Fixed a bug preventing use of streaming_node and opencl_node with Clang; inspired by a contribution from Francisco Facioni.
  • Fixed this_task_arena::isolate() function to work correctly with parallel_invoke and parallel_do algorithms.
  • Fixed a memory leak in composite_node.
  • Fixed an assertion failure in debug tbbmalloc binaries when TBBMALLOC_CLEAN_ALL_BUFFERS is used.
Downloads

You can download the latest Intel® TBB version from http://threadingbuildingblocks.org and https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-tbb.

In addition, Intel® TBB ca be installed using:

Improved insights in Intel® VTune™ Amplifier 2018

Intel® VTune™ Amplifier 2018 (https://software.intel.com/en-us/vtune-amplifier-help) improved insight into parallelism inefficiencies for applications using Intel® Threading Building Blocks (Intel® TBB) with extended classification of high Overhead and Spin time: /content/www/us/en/develop/articles/overhead-and-spin-time-issue-in-intel-threading-building-blocks-applications-due-to.html

Cmake support

Cmake support in Intel® TBB (https://github.com/01org/tbb/tree/tbb_2018/cmake) has been introduced as well.

Samples

All examples for the commercial version of the library were moved online: https://software.intel.com/en-us/product-code-samples. Examples are available as a standalone package or as a part of Intel® Parallel Studio XE or Intel® System Studio Online Samples packages

Documentation

The following documentation for Intel® TBB is available:

Product and Performance Information

1

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.Intel.com/PerformanceIndex.