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gostructmutexdeadlockembedding

Deadlock with anonymous mutex and struct

Let's say I have these two structs:

type A struct {
    Mutex sync.Mutex
    i int
}

type B struct {
    A
    sync.Mutex
}

Now, when I try to lock B and then A I got a deadlock:

var b B
b.Lock()
b.Mutex.Lock()
b.Mutex.Unlock()
b.Unlock()

I figured out that this is related with the name of the mutex of the struct A, for example, there is no deadlock if I name it Mutexx and not Mutex. But I don't know why it matters. Can anyone, please, explain this behavior?

https://play.golang.org/p/UVi_WLWeGmi

Solution

  • The reason for the deadlock is because your code will call the Lock() method of the same mutex twice, which is a blocking operation.

    The explanation lies in Spec: Selectors:

    The following rules apply to selectors:

    1. For a value x of type T or *T where T is not a pointer or interface type, x.f denotes the field or method at the shallowest depth in T where there is such an f. If there is not exactly one f with shallowest depth, the selector expression is illegal.

    What does this mean?

    In B, you embed both a sync.Mutex and a value of A, and A also embeds a sync.Mutex.

    When you write B.Mutex, that could refer to the directly embedded B.Mutex field (the unqualified type name acts as the field name), and could also refer to B.A.Mutex (because the A field is embedded in B), but according to the quoted rule above, it will denote the field / method at the shallowest depth which is B.Mutex.

    Similarly, b.Lock() could refer to B.Mutex.Lock() and could refer to B.A.Mutex.Lock(). But again according to the quoted rule, it will denote the field / method at the shallowest depth, which is B.Mutex.Lock().

    So this code:

    b.Lock()
b.Mutex.Lock()

    Will call the Lock() method of the same Mutex twice, which is the embedded B.Mutex field of the B struct. The 2nd call will block, as the mutex is already locked.

    When you rename A.Mutex to e.g. A.Mutexx, and then you write:

    b.Lock()
b.Mutexx.Lock()

    The first b.Lock() call refers to B.Mutex.Lock(), and the second b.Mutexx.Lock() call refers to B.A.Mutexx.Lock() call, so they lock 2 different, distinct mutexes; they are independent, so the 2nd lock will not block (its mutex is not yet locked).