GLibtimeout_add

Sets a function to be called at regular intervals, with the default priority, G_PRIORITY_DEFAULT.

The given function is called repeatedly until it returns G_SOURCE_REMOVE or FALSE, at which point the timeout is automatically destroyed and the function will not be called again. The first call to the function will be at the end of the first interval.

Note that timeout functions may be delayed, due to the processing of other event sources. Thus they should not be relied on for precise timing. After each call to the timeout function, the time of the next timeout is recalculated based on the current time and the given interval (it does not try to ‘catch up’ time lost in delays).

See mainloop memory management for details on how to handle the return value and memory management of data.

If you want to have a timer in the “seconds” range and do not care about the exact time of the first call of the timer, use the g_timeout_add_seconds() function; this function allows for more optimizations and more efficient system power usage.

This internally creates a main loop source using g_timeout_source_new() and attaches it to the global GMainContext using g_source_attach(), so the callback will be invoked in whichever thread is running that main context. You can do these steps manually if you need greater control or to use a custom main context.

It is safe to call this function from any thread.

The interval given is in terms of monotonic time, not wall clock time. See g_get_monotonic_time().

This function is not directly available to language bindings.

The implementation of this function is provided by g_timeout_add_full() in language bindings.