[PATCH v2 3/3] t/README: document writing concurrency-safe helpers

From: Michael Montalbo via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Jul 10, 2026, 17:30 UTC
Message-ID: <f158e1f92e9c586fca34faecaef23f9581d65478.1783704657.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.2171.v2.git.1783704657.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com>

The apply-one-time-script.sh and http-429.sh fixes addressed the same underlying problem: a test helper assuming it has exclusive access to a file when the web server can run it for several requests at once. The atomic idioms that avoid this are not specific to CGI or to HTTP, so document them generally, alongside the other guidance for writing tests, and leave a pointer from the lib-httpd helper list rather than a local comment. The note covers the anti-pattern (a "test -f" then a separate act) and the two safe operations (mkdir to elect a winner, rename to consume a one-shot marker), citing Git's own lockfile machinery and make_symlink() as precedent.

Signed-off-by: Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com>
---
 t/README       | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 t/lib-httpd.sh |  3 +++
 2 files changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index 085921be4b..a9d425f392 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -854,6 +854,38 @@ from the test harness library.  At the end of the script, call
 'test_done'.
 
 
+Writing concurrency-safe helpers
+--------------------------------
+
+Some test code runs concurrently: a test may background work with '&',
+and the helper scripts installed for the web server (in t/lib-httpd) are
+run once per request, so the same script can execute for several
+requests at once.  Such code cannot assume it has exclusive access to a
+file.
+
+When exactly one of several concurrent processes needs to "win" a
+decision, a single atomic filesystem operation can make it, rather than
+a check followed by a separate action.  A "test -f X" then "touch X"
+(or "rm X") races: two processes can both pass the check before either
+acts.  Two atomic operations avoid this:
+
+ - "mkdir dir", which fails if the directory already exists, so that
+   exactly one caller wins, electing a first or only request (see
+   t/lib-httpd/http-429.sh).
+
+ - "mv src dst" (rename), which fails if the source is gone, so that
+   exactly one caller consumes it, claiming a planted one-shot marker
+   (see t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh).
+
+A "$$" suffix on per-request scratch files keeps concurrent invocations
+from clobbering each other's fixed-name files.
+
+This is a standard shell locking idiom, and the same reasoning behind
+Git's own lockfile machinery, which creates its lock with O_CREAT|O_EXCL,
+and make_symlink() in t/test-lib.sh, which uses an mkdir lock: an atomic
+operation whose failure indicates that another process got there first.
+
+
 Test harness library
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/t/lib-httpd.sh b/t/lib-httpd.sh
index fc646447d5..d64f9c8c2d 100644
--- a/t/lib-httpd.sh
+++ b/t/lib-httpd.sh
@@ -159,6 +159,9 @@ prepare_httpd() {
 	mkdir -p "$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH"
 	cp "$TEST_PATH"/passwd "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH"
 	cp "$TEST_PATH"/proxy-passwd "$HTTPD_ROOT_PATH"
+	# The web server can run any of these CGI scripts for two requests at
+	# once; a helper that keeps state between requests must do so with an
+	# atomic operation. See "Writing concurrency-safe helpers" in t/README.
 	install_script incomplete-length-upload-pack-v2-http.sh
 	install_script incomplete-body-upload-pack-v2-http.sh
 	install_script error-no-report.sh

-- 
gitgitgadget