* Acquire a global GC lock to prevent new temporary root files from

being created after the garbage collector has read the temproots
  directory.  This blocks the creation of new processes, but the
  garbage collector could periodically release the GC lock to allow
  them to run.

src/libstore/gc.cc

@@ -12,17 +12,30 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 
-/* Acquire the global GC lock. */
-static AutoCloseFD openGCLock(LockType lockType)
+static string gcLockName = "gc.lock";
+
+
+/* Acquire the global GC lock.  This is used to prevent new Nix
+   processes from starting after the temporary root files have been
+   read.  To be precise: when they try to create a new temporary root
+   file, they will block until the garbage collector has finished /
+   yielded the GC lock. */
+static int openGCLock(LockType lockType)
 {
-#if 0
-    Path fnGCLock = (format("%1%/%2%/%3%")
-        % nixStateDir % tempRootsDir % getpid()).str();
+    Path fnGCLock = (format("%1%/%2%")
+        % nixStateDir % gcLockName).str();
         
-    fdTempRoots = open(fnTempRoots.c_str(), O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0600);
-    if (fdTempRoots == -1)
-        throw SysError(format("opening temporary roots file `%1%'") % fnTempRoots);
-#endif
+    AutoCloseFD fdGCLock = open(fnGCLock.c_str(), O_RDWR | O_CREAT, 0600);
+    if (fdGCLock == -1)
+        throw SysError(format("opening global GC lock `%1%'") % fnGCLock);
+
+    lockFile(fdGCLock, lockType, true);
+
+    /* !!! Restrict read permission on the GC root.  Otherwise any
+       process that can open the file for reading can DoS the
+       collector. */
+    
+    return fdGCLock.borrow();
 }
 
 
@@ -41,11 +54,15 @@ void addTempRoot(const Path & path)
         while (1) {
             fnTempRoots = (format("%1%/%2%/%3%")
                 % nixStateDir % tempRootsDir % getpid()).str();
-        
+
+            AutoCloseFD fdGCLock = openGCLock(ltRead);
+            
             fdTempRoots = open(fnTempRoots.c_str(), O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, 0600);
             if (fdTempRoots == -1)
                 throw SysError(format("opening temporary roots file `%1%'") % fnTempRoots);
 
+            fdGCLock.close();
+            
             debug(format("acquiring read lock on `%1%'") % fnTempRoots);
             lockFile(fdTempRoots, ltRead, true);
 
@@ -188,14 +205,11 @@ void collectGarbage(const PathSet & roots, GCAction action,
 {
     result.clear();
     
-    /* !!! TODO: Acquire the global GC root.  This prevents
+    /* Acquire the global GC root.  This prevents
        a) New roots from being added.
        b) Processes from creating new temporary root files. */
+    AutoCloseFD fdGCLock = openGCLock(ltWrite);
 
-    /* !!! Restrict read permission on the GC root.  Otherwise any
-       process that can open the file for reading can DoS the
-       collector. */
-    
     /* Determine the live paths which is just the closure of the
        roots under the `references' relation. */
     PathSet livePaths;

tests/Makefile.am

@@ -36,10 +36,10 @@ nix-pull.sh: dependencies.nix
 gc.sh: dependencies.nix
 gc-concurrent.sh: gc-concurrent.nix gc-concurrent2.nix
 
-#TESTS = init.sh hash.sh lang.sh simple.sh dependencies.sh locking.sh parallel.sh \
-#  build-hook.sh substitutes.sh substitutes2.sh fallback.sh nix-push.sh gc.sh \
-#  gc-concurrent.sh verify.sh nix-pull.sh
-TESTS = init.sh gc-concurrent.sh 
+TESTS = init.sh hash.sh lang.sh simple.sh dependencies.sh locking.sh parallel.sh \
+  build-hook.sh substitutes.sh substitutes2.sh fallback.sh nix-push.sh gc.sh \
+  gc-concurrent.sh verify.sh nix-pull.sh
+#TESTS = init.sh gc-concurrent.sh 
 
 XFAIL_TESTS =
 

tests/gc-concurrent.sh

@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ outPath2=$($TOP/src/nix-store/nix-store -q $storeExpr2)
 
 ls -l test-tmp/state/temproots
 
+ln -s $storeExpr2 "$NIX_LOCALSTATE_DIR"/nix/gcroots/foo2
+
 # Start build #1 in the background.  It starts immediately.
 $TOP/src/nix-store/nix-store -rvv "$storeExpr1" &
 pid1=$!
@@ -31,4 +33,5 @@ wait $pid2
 cat $outPath1/foobar
 cat $outPath1/input-2/bar
 
+# Build #2 should have failed because its derivation got garbage collected.
 cat $outPath2/foobar