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Understanding Exception Handling in Go singleflight

sorcererxw

golang.org/x/sync/singleflight can prevent multiple Goroutines from doing the same thing simultaneously and repeatedly.

Its source code is very simple, and the overall process is as follows:

type call struct {
	wg sync.WaitGroup
	val interface{}
	err error
}

type Group struct {
	mu sync.Mutex       // protects m
	m  map[string]*call // lazily initialized
}

func (g *Group) Do(key string, fn func() (interface{}, error)) (v interface{}, err error) {
	g.mu.Lock()

	if c, ok := g.m[key]; ok {
		g.mu.Unlock()
		c.wg.Wait()
		...
		return c.val, c.err, true
	}
	c := new(call)
	c.wg.Add(1)
	g.m[key] = c
	g.mu.Unlock()

	g.doCall(c, key, fn)
	return c.val, c.err
}

Whenever a request comes in:

  • If it is the first time, encapsulate it as a call object and put it into the request pool.
  • Afterwards, all identical requests simply wait for the original call to finish and directly use its result.

Compared to the larger process, the doCall function in singleflight is more interesting:

func (g *Group) doCall(c *call, key string, fn func() (interface{}, error)) {
	normalReturn := false // 是否成功运行完成
	recovered := false // 是否发生 panic

	defer func() {
		if !normalReturn && !recovered {
			c.err = errGoexit // 既没有成功运行,也没有 panic,那么就只有可能是 runtime.Goexit
		}
		g.mu.Lock()
		defer g.mu.Unlock()

		if e, ok := c.err.(*panicError); ok {
			if len(c.chans) > 0 {
				// 为什么要单开一个进程 panic
				go panic(e)
				select {}
			} else {
				panic(e)
			}
		} else if c.err == errGoexit {
		} else {
			for _, ch := range c.chans {
				ch <- Result{c.val, c.err, c.dups > 0}
			}
		}
	}()

	func() { // 在闭包内直接使用 defer,使代码更加简洁
		defer func() {
			if !normalReturn {
				if r := recover(); r != nil {
					c.err = newPanicError(r)
				}
			}
		}()

		c.val, c.err = fn()
		normalReturn = true
	}()

	if !normalReturn {
		recovered = true
	}
}
  • Why does the situation of recovered == false but normalReturn ==false occur?

    There are two ways to immediately interrupt a goroutine in Go:

    • panic: Errors can be caught and recovered using recover. If there is no recover, it will cause the entire process to exit.
    • runtime.Goexit: Immediately terminates the running of the current goroutine.

    The common feature of both is: after they end, the defer on their stack will still be executed in order. So, it is possible to judge whether the function ends normally or a recover occurs in defer. If neither happens, a runtime.Goexit occurs.