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vole
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Metadata writers queue on the branch instead of racing for it

122cbe4f62bf87a941538450584ba1b20444c135 · Keenan Nemetz · 7d ago · parent 4739664b

Metadata writers queue on the branch instead of racing for it

Every write to refs/heads/vole read the whole branch, decided, and moved the
ref with a compare-and-swap, retrying up to 64 times with no backoff and no
coordination. Concurrent writers therefore did not queue: they each paid a full
read, lost, and paid it again. Measured on a 2,000-file branch, one write needed
one attempt alone and 21 with 32 writers, and throughput fell as writers were
added because the retries were the load. At 64 simultaneous writers the loop ran
out and the write failed for being unlucky.

The read-modify-write now runs with one writer at a time, holding a flock in the
repository so the SSH hook and the server queue behind each other. The
compare-and-swap stays for writers that go around the lock — a push, a hand-run
git command, another host — and losing one now waits with jittered backoff
before deciding again.

Writers read the branch once. The load and the decision happen inside the commit
instead of before it, which also stops an edit from replacing a change that
landed while the page was open: the decision is made against the tree it writes.

A push only does that work when it has metadata to move. Post-receive asks the
index which open requests follow the branch it moved, and a branch nobody is
proposing from now writes an audit line and no commit.

Measurements, 32 concurrent writers: 21.3 CAS attempts per write before, 1.0
after. Through the web, posting comments at concurrency 32: p99 4.7 s -> 0.95 s,
and throughput no longer falls as workers are added. The load harness gains a
`comment` scenario so the number is visible.

Closes: 01M6D9G8H6E0RCQ3AD5TMAGX34

core/git/lock_unix.go +25

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
1 //go:build unix
2
3 package git
4
5 import (
6 "os"
7 "syscall"
8 )
9
10 // lockFile blocks until this process holds the exclusive lock on f. flock is
11 // released when the descriptor closes, including when the process is killed, which
12 // is what makes a write that dies mid-commit recoverable without a lock file
13 // anybody has to clean up.
14 func lockFile(f *os.File) (func(), error) {
15 for {
16 err := syscall.Flock(int(f.Fd()), syscall.LOCK_EX)
17 if err == nil {
18 return func() { _ = syscall.Flock(int(f.Fd()), syscall.LOCK_UN) }, nil
19 }
20 // A signal can interrupt the wait; the lock is not held, so ask again.
21 if err != syscall.EINTR {
22 return nil, err
23 }
24 }
25 }