Skip to content
Open
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
32 changes: 32 additions & 0 deletions t/README
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -854,6 +854,38 @@ from the test harness library. At the end of the script, call
'test_done'.

Copy link
Copy Markdown

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Junio C Hamano wrote on the Git mailing list (how to reply to this email):

"Michael Montalbo via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> 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(+)

Thanks for a nice finishing touch.



> 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



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
--------------------

Expand Down
3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions t/lib-httpd.sh
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -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
Expand Down
38 changes: 24 additions & 14 deletions t/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,21 +6,31 @@
#

Copy link
Copy Markdown

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Junio C Hamano wrote on the Git mailing list (how to reply to this email):

"Michael Montalbo via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> From: Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com>
>
> apply-one-time-script.sh checks for the "one-time-script" marker, runs
> it, captures the git-http-backend response in the fixed-name files "out"
> and "out_modified", and removes the marker only after it has finished
> serving the modified response. Because the client receives the response
> body before that removal, it can start its next request while the marker
> still exists. Apache can then run this CGI for two requests at once: a
> partial fetch that receives a REF_DELTA against a missing promisor
> object lazily fetches that base while the first response is still in
> flight. The second request passes the marker check, the first request
> then removes the marker, and the second fails to exec the now-missing
> marker, emits no output, and the server answers HTTP 500:
>
>   fatal: ... The requested URL returned error: 500
>   fatal: could not fetch <oid> from promisor remote
>
> This has been seen as a flaky failure of t5616.47 on the macOS CI
> runners.

Thanks for this detailed write-up.  The analysis looks good.

> Claim the marker atomically with a rename, and only once the one-time
> script has succeeded and actually changed the response; give the scratch
> files per-request names. A request that loses the rename, or whose
> script fails or leaves the response unchanged, serves the unmodified
> body and keeps the marker for a later request. No path emits an empty
> body, so the HTTP 500 no longer occurs.

Hmph.  

> +#
> +# Apache can run this CGI for concurrent requests (for example a partial fetch
> +# that lazily fetches a missing object while the first response is still in
> +# flight), so the helper claims the marker atomically with a rename, and only
> +# once it has decided to modify the response. A request that loses the race
> +# finds the marker already gone and serves its response unchanged; no request
> +# is left emitting an empty body, which the server would report as HTTP 500.
> +# Scratch files are per-request ($$) so concurrent requests do not clobber each
> +# other.
> +
> +test -f one-time-script || exec "$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
>  
> -	"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >out
> -	./one-time-script out >out_modified
> +LC_ALL=C
> +export LC_ALL

The original was somehow inconsistent in that it forced C locale
only when one-time-script munged the output, and otherwise the
backend was run in the original locale.  I am not sure if that
matters very much.

> +out=out.$$
> +modified=out-modified.$$
> +"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >"$out"
> +
> +if ./one-time-script "$out" 2>/dev/null >"$modified" &&
> +   ! cmp -s "$out" "$modified" &&
> +   mv one-time-script one-time-script.$$ 2>/dev/null
> +then
> +	cat "$modified"
>  else
> +	cat "$out"
>  fi

We may run the one-time script, find that it modified the payload,
and then another instance of us may start running before we can move
the one-time script away, so the second request can see "ah,
one-time-script is there, nobody has claimed it by renaming" and run
it again, no?  So this solution may shrink the race window but may
not completely eliminate it, unless we have some coordination among
ourselves, perhaps?

Ah, we assume running one-time-script itself multiple times is safe
and does not cause issues.  Our objective is to avoid returning
modified output twice.  So while the first instance of us
successfully renames one-time-script to one-time-script.$$ and emits
the modified result, even if the second instance raced and managed
to run the script again, it will fail to rename with "mv", and
discard the modified output, and instead show the unmodified output
generated by the backend.

OK.  It is a bit tricky.  It may help future readers if we said
something about this in the proposed log message (i.e., we consider
that it is perfectly fine to run one-time-script more than once; we
only want to avoid letting the second invocation's output used).

Thanks.

# This can be used to simulate the effects of the repository changing in
# between HTTP request-response pairs.
if test -f one-time-script
then
LC_ALL=C
export LC_ALL
#
# Apache can run this CGI for concurrent requests (for example a partial fetch
# that lazily fetches a missing object while the first response is still in
# flight), so the helper claims the marker atomically with a rename, and only
# once it has decided to modify the response. A request that loses the race
# finds the marker already gone and serves its response unchanged; no request
# is left emitting an empty body, which the server would report as HTTP 500.
# Scratch files are per-request ($$) so concurrent requests do not clobber each
# other.

test -f one-time-script || exec "$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"

"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >out
./one-time-script out >out_modified
LC_ALL=C
export LC_ALL

if cmp -s out out_modified
then
cat out
else
cat out_modified
rm one-time-script
fi
out=out.$$
modified=out-modified.$$
"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend" >"$out"

if ./one-time-script "$out" 2>/dev/null >"$modified" &&
! cmp -s "$out" "$modified" &&
mv one-time-script one-time-script.$$ 2>/dev/null
then
cat "$modified"
else
"$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
cat "$out"
fi
rm -f "$out" "$modified" one-time-script.$$
21 changes: 10 additions & 11 deletions t/lib-httpd/http-429.sh
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -26,14 +26,17 @@ repo_path="${remaining#*/}" # Get rest (repo path)
# The repo name is the first component before any "/"

Copy link
Copy Markdown

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Junio C Hamano wrote on the Git mailing list (how to reply to this email):

"Michael Montalbo via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> From: Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com>
>
> http-429.sh records "already returned 429 once" with a "test -f"
> followed by a "touch" of a shared state file. That check-then-act is not
> atomic: Apache can run this CGI for several requests at once, and two of
> them can both pass the "test -f" before either "touch"es, so both treat
> themselves as the first request. The retry flow that drives this
> endpoint is mostly sequential, so this has not been seen to fail, but
> the race is latent.

OK.  And use of mkdir for atomicity is an obvious solution for such
a situtation.

> -if test -f "$state_file"
> +if test "$retry_after" != permanent && ! mkdir "$state" 2>/dev/null
>  then
>  	# Already returned 429 once, forward to git-http-backend
>  	# Set PATH_INFO to just the repo path (without retry-after value)
> @@ -52,9 +55,6 @@ then
>  	exec "$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
>  fi
>  
> -# Mark that we've returned 429
> -touch "$state_file"
> -

Copy link
Copy Markdown

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Junio C Hamano wrote on the Git mailing list (how to reply to this email):

"Michael Montalbo via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> -# Check if this is the first call (no state file exists)
> -if test -f "$state_file"
> +# Apache can run this CGI for concurrent requests, so the script decides
> +# whether this is the first call with a single atomic "mkdir": it succeeds for
> +# exactly one of any racing requests and fails for the rest. "permanent"
> +# always rate-limits and records no state.
> +if test "$retry_after" != permanent && ! mkdir "$state" 2>/dev/null

I think the last sentence in the above comment was meant to explain
why the new code checks the value of "$retry_after", but it is not
clear if it is needed for correctness (in other words, the original
was wrong to do "test -f && touch" but also was wrong to do so even
when "$retry_after" is set to "permanent), or if it is a mere
"optimization opportunity" you are taking advantage of.  In either
case, it would be nice to see it explained in the proposed commit
log message.

Thanks.

repo_name="${repo_path%%/*}"

# Use current directory (HTTPD_ROOT_PATH) for state file
# Create a safe filename from test_context, retry_after and repo_name
# This ensures all requests for the same test context share the same state file
# Use current directory (HTTPD_ROOT_PATH) for state.
# Create a safe name from test_context, retry_after and repo_name so that all
# requests for the same test context share the same state.
safe_name=$(echo "${test_context}-${retry_after}-${repo_name}" | tr '/' '_' | tr -cd 'a-zA-Z0-9_-')
state_file="http-429-state-${safe_name}"
state="http-429-state-${safe_name}"

# Check if this is the first call (no state file exists)
if test -f "$state_file"
# Apache can run this CGI for concurrent requests, so the script decides
# whether this is the first call with a single atomic "mkdir": it succeeds for
# exactly one of any racing requests and fails for the rest. "permanent"
# always rate-limits and records no state.
if test "$retry_after" != permanent && ! mkdir "$state" 2>/dev/null
then
# Already returned 429 once, forward to git-http-backend
# Set PATH_INFO to just the repo path (without retry-after value)
Expand All @@ -52,9 +55,6 @@ then
exec "$GIT_EXEC_PATH/git-http-backend"
fi

# Mark that we've returned 429
touch "$state_file"

# Output HTTP 429 response
printf "Status: 429 Too Many Requests\r\n"

Expand All @@ -67,8 +67,7 @@ case "$retry_after" in
printf "Retry-After: invalid-format-123abc\r\n"
;;
permanent)
# Always return 429, don't set state file for success
rm -f "$state_file"
# Always return 429
printf "Retry-After: 1\r\n"
printf "Content-Type: text/plain\r\n"
printf "\r\n"
Expand Down
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions t/meson.build
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -707,6 +707,7 @@ integration_tests = [
't5564-http-proxy.sh',
't5565-push-multiple.sh',
't5566-push-group.sh',
't5567-one-time-script.sh',
't5570-git-daemon.sh',
't5571-pre-push-hook.sh',
't5572-pull-submodule.sh',
Expand Down
96 changes: 96 additions & 0 deletions t/t5567-one-time-script.sh
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
#!/bin/sh

test_description='apply-one-time-script CGI helper is safe under concurrent requests'

. ./test-lib.sh

HELPER="$TEST_DIRECTORY/lib-httpd/apply-one-time-script.sh"

test_expect_success PIPE 'concurrent requests: one rewritten, one passed through, neither empty' '
mkdir workdir fakebin &&
ENTERED="$PWD/entered" &&
GATE="$PWD/gate" &&
export ENTERED GATE &&
mkfifo "$ENTERED" "$GATE" &&

# Stand in for git-http-backend. The modify role returns a response
# containing "packfile", which the one-time script rewrites. The
# passthrough role returns a response that is left untouched, but first
# announces that it has entered the helper and then blocks, so that it
# is still in flight when the modify role claims and removes the marker.
write_script fakebin/git-http-backend <<-\EOF &&
printf "Status: 200 OK\r\n"
printf "Content-Type: application/x-git-result\r\n"
printf "\r\n"
if test "$ROLE" = modify
then
printf "packfile\n"
else
echo entered >"$ENTERED"
read -r released <"$GATE"
printf "refs\n"
fi
EOF

# The transform that replace_packfile would install as one-time-script:
# rewrite responses that contain "packfile", leave the rest alone.
write_script workdir/one-time-script <<-\EOF &&
if grep packfile "$1" >/dev/null
then
sed "/packfile/q" "$1" &&
printf "REPLACED\n"
else
cat "$1"
fi
EOF

GIT_EXEC_PATH="$PWD/fakebin" &&
export GIT_EXEC_PATH &&

# Hold GATE open read-write on fd 9 for the duration, so releasing the
# passthrough request below cannot block even if that request has
# already exited (it keeps a reader on the FIFO).
exec 9<>"$GATE" &&

# Launch the passthrough request in the background. It enters the
# helper, signals us through ENTERED, then blocks on GATE inside the
# fake backend. The braces keep the && chain intact while backgrounding
# only the subshell, so "wait" can reap it by pid; kill it on any exit
# so a stray blocked child cannot hold the test output open and stall a
# reader such as prove.
{ (
cd workdir &&
ROLE=passthrough sh "$HELPER" >../passthrough.out 2>../passthrough.err
) & } &&
passthrough_pid=$! &&
test_when_finished "kill $passthrough_pid 2>/dev/null || :" &&

# Wait until the passthrough request is past the marker check.
read -r entered <"$ENTERED" &&

# Run the modifying request to completion while the passthrough request
# is still blocked.
(
cd workdir &&
ROLE=modify sh "$HELPER" >../modify.out 2>../modify.err
) &&

# Release the passthrough request and let it finish. Ignore the helper
# exit status here so a broken helper is diagnosed by the assertions
# below rather than aborting the test.
echo released >&9 &&
{ wait "$passthrough_pid" || :; } &&

# Neither request may error out or produce an empty (HTTP 500) body,
# and each must have played its role: the modify request rewrote its
# response and the passthrough request came through untouched.
test_must_be_empty passthrough.err &&
test_must_be_empty modify.err &&
test_grep "Status: 200 OK" passthrough.out &&
test_grep "Status: 200 OK" modify.out &&
test_grep REPLACED modify.out &&
test_grep ! REPLACED passthrough.out &&
test_grep refs passthrough.out
'

test_done
Loading