Calling stopSelf() in Service while thread is running

Question

Suppose I have code in the onStart() handler of my Service to launch a thread to do some stuff and then call stopSelf().

stopSelf() gets called before the thread finishes. What exactly happens?

I've tested this out myself and my thread continues to execute until it is finished. Does Android hear the stopSelf() call, but postpone it until the thread is finished?

 @Override
 public void onStart(Intent intent, int startid) {
  new Thread(new Runnable() {
      public void run() {
        // TODO some long running operation
      }
    }).start();
  stopSelf();
 }

Answer 1

stopSelf() gets called before the thread finishes. What exactly happens?

The thread runs to completion.

Does Android hear the stopSelf() call, but postpone it until the thread is finished?

No. Your Service is still destroyed at the point of the stopSelf() call. You're just leaking a thread and the Service object, at least until the thread terminates.

You may wish to consider switching to IntentService, as it integrates the background-thread-and-stopSelf() pattern.