shm_mq: Third attempt at fixing nowait behavior in shm_mq_receive.
authorRobert Haas <rhaas@postgresql.org>
Tue, 3 Nov 2015 14:12:52 +0000 (09:12 -0500)
committerRobert Haas <rhaas@postgresql.org>
Tue, 3 Nov 2015 14:12:52 +0000 (09:12 -0500)
Commit a1480ec1d3bacb9acb08ec09f22bc25bc033115b purported to fix the
problems with commit b2ccb5f4e6c81305386edb34daf7d1d1e1ee112a, but it
didn't completely fix them.  The problem is that the checks were
performed in the wrong order, leading to a race condition.  If the
sender attached, sent a message, and detached after the receiver
called shm_mq_get_sender and before the receiver called
shm_mq_counterparty_gone, we'd incorrectly return SHM_MQ_DETACHED
before all messages were read.  Repair by reversing the order of
operations, and add a long comment explaining why this new logic is
(hopefully) correct.

src/backend/storage/ipc/shm_mq.c

index 1d0657f3858792bb472a67d9de70838904d17c9a..dafc8a7ca76ca03544209202e3353f80d952c9a8 100644 (file)
@@ -501,11 +501,26 @@ shm_mq_receive(shm_mq_handle *mqh, Size *nbytesp, void **datap, bool nowait)
    {
        if (nowait)
        {
+           int         counterparty_gone;
+
+           /*
+            * We shouldn't return at this point at all unless the sender
+            * hasn't attached yet.  However, the correct return value depends
+            * on whether the sender is still attached.  If we first test
+            * whether the sender has ever attached and then test whether the
+            * sender has detached, there's a race condition: a sender that
+            * attaches and detaches very quickly might fool us into thinking
+            * the sender never attached at all.  So, test whether our
+            * counterparty is definitively gone first, and only afterwards
+            * check whether the sender ever attached in the first place.
+            */
+           counterparty_gone = shm_mq_counterparty_gone(mq, mqh->mqh_handle);
            if (shm_mq_get_sender(mq) == NULL)
            {
-               if (shm_mq_counterparty_gone(mq, mqh->mqh_handle))
+               if (counterparty_gone)
                    return SHM_MQ_DETACHED;
-               return SHM_MQ_WOULD_BLOCK;
+               else
+                   return SHM_MQ_WOULD_BLOCK;
            }
        }
        else if (!shm_mq_wait_internal(mq, &mq->mq_sender, mqh->mqh_handle)