CreateThread() followed by CloseHandle()?

This looks like a bug to me, but the MSDN looks a little ambiguous to me.
I found some code that does this:

Code:

HANDLE hTcpResponder = CreateThread( NULL, 0, TcpResponder, &ServiceInfo, 0, &TcpResponderId );

if ( hTcpResponder == NULL )
{
	emsg( SPNorm, "New Tcp Responder Did not Start" );
}
else
{
	CloseHandle( hTcpResponder );
}

According to the MSDN:

Originally Posted by MSDN

The thread object remains in the system until the thread has terminated and all handles to it have been closed through a call to CloseHandle.

Does that mean that you should close the handle AFTER the thread has finished, or can you close it while the thread is still running and then you don't have to worry about when the thread finishes?
I thought closing the handle would end the thread?

If closing the handle killed the thread, then I think the program you are examining would not work at all. Not having a thread running isn't exactly a "subtle" bug.

If all handles are closed - thread object will be destroyed as soon as thread is terminated (by reaching return statement of the thread-main function)

If at least one handle is not closed - thread object is not destructed even after thread is terminated.
So the application can retrieve the exit code of the thread function using the thread handle...

Thanks, I didn't think something like that could go unnoticed if it was actually a bug; but I'd rather ask and be safe rather than sorry.

Remember our RAII class friends?
No messing with closing handles

Originally Posted by Elysia

Remember our RAII class friends?
No messing with closing handles

Yeah, that's usually what I do when I write the code myself. Unfortunately I'm just updating code written over a decade ago by very C-oriented developers...