GNU bug report logs - #25018
GC incorrectly removes the temporary root file of the calling process

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Message #12 received at 25018-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: ludo <at> gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)
Cc: h.goebel <at> crazy-compilers.com, Eelco Dolstra <eelco.dolstra <at> logicblox.com>,
 25018-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#25018: GC incorrectly removes the temporary root file of
 the calling process
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2022 16:59:20 -0400

Hi Ludo,

ludo <at> gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès) writes:

> Hello,
>
> The ‘readTempRoots’ function in gc.cc has this:
>
>         /* Try to acquire a write lock without blocking.  This can
>            only succeed if the owning process has died.  In that case
>            we don't care about its temporary roots. */
>         if (lockFile(*fd, ltWrite, false)) {
>             printMsg(lvlError, format("removing stale temporary roots file `%1%'") % path);
>             unlink(path.c_str());
>
> There’s a thinko here: locking the file also succeeds when the lock is
> already held by the calling process.
>
> In that case, this code ends up removing the temporary root file of
> calling process, which is bad.  Here’s a sample session:
>
> scheme@(guile-user)> ,use(guix)
> scheme@(guile-user)> (define s (open-connection))
> scheme@(guile-user)> (current-build-output-port (current-error-port))
> $2 = #<output: file /dev/pts/9>
> scheme@(guile-user)> (set-build-options s #:verbosity 10)
> $3 = #t
> scheme@(guile-user)> (add-text-to-store s "foo" "bar!")
> acquiring global GC lock `/var/guix/gc.lock'
> acquiring read lock on `/var/guix/temproots/4259'
> acquiring write lock on `/var/guix/temproots/4259'
> downgrading to read lock on `/var/guix/temproots/4259'
> locking path `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
> lock acquired on `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo.lock'
> `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo' has hash `c756ef12a70bad10c9ac276ecd1213ea7cc3a2e6c462ba47e4f9a88756a055d0'
> lock released on `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo.lock'
> $4 = "/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo"
> scheme@(guile-user)> (delete-paths s (list $4))
> acquiring global GC lock `/var/guix/gc.lock'
> finding garbage collector roots...
> executing `/gnu/store/l99rkv2713nl53kr3gn4akinvifsx19h-guix-0.11.0-3.7ca3/libexec/guix/list-runtime-roots' to find additional roots
> […]
> reading temporary root file `/var/guix/temproots/4259'
> removing stale temporary roots file `/var/guix/temproots/4259'
> […]
> considering whether to delete `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
> |   invalidating path `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
> |   deleting `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
> |   recursively deleting path `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
> |   |   /gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo
> deleting `/gnu/store/trash'
> recursively deleting path `/gnu/store/trash'
> |   /gnu/store/trash
> deleting unused links...
> deleting unused link `/gnu/store/.links/1l2ml1b8ga7rwi3vlqn4wsic6z7a2c9csvi7mk4i1b8blw9fymn7'
> note: currently hard linking saves 6699.22 MiB
> $5 = ("/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo")
> $6 = 4096
>
> Notice the “removing stale temporary roots file” message.
>
> Eelco: shouldn’t it be changed along the lines of the attached path?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Ludo’.
>
> diff --git a/nix/libstore/gc.cc b/nix/libstore/gc.cc
> index 72eff52..d92388f 100644
> --- a/nix/libstore/gc.cc
> +++ b/nix/libstore/gc.cc
> @@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
>  #include "misc.hh"
>  #include "local-store.hh"
>  
> +#include <string>
>  #include <functional>
>  #include <queue>
>  #include <algorithm>
> @@ -225,10 +226,10 @@ static void readTempRoots(PathSet & tempRoots, FDs & fds)
>          //FDPtr fd(new AutoCloseFD(openLockFile(path, false)));
>          //if (*fd == -1) continue;
>  
> -        /* Try to acquire a write lock without blocking.  This can
> -           only succeed if the owning process has died.  In that case
> -           we don't care about its temporary roots. */
> -        if (lockFile(*fd, ltWrite, false)) {
> +        /* Try to acquire a write lock without blocking.  This can only
> +           succeed if the owning process has died, in which case we don't care
> +           about its temporary roots, or if we are the owning process.  */
> +        if (i.name != std::to_string(getpid()) && lockFile(*fd, ltWrite, false)) {
>              printMsg(lvlError, format("removing stale temporary roots file `%1%'") % path);
>              unlink(path.c_str());
>              writeFull(*fd, "d");
>

I'm not Eelco, but your change LGTM.  Note that the upstream version
still uses the original code [0].

I've installed the change, tested that it had the expected result:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
reading temporary root file `/var/guix/temproots/8386'
waiting for read lock on `/var/guix/temproots/8386'
got temporary root `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
considering whether to delete `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo'
|   cannot delete `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo' because it's a root
|   cannot delete `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo' because it's still reachable
ice-9/boot-9.scm:1685:16: In procedure raise-exception:
ERROR:
  1. &store-protocol-error:
      message: "cannot delete path `/gnu/store/0siy93lggjw7sfdg8gsvrzafaa974h2d-foo' since it is still alive"
      status: 1
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

and pushed!

Closing.

[0]  https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/master/src/libstore/gc.cc#L194

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim

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