gobject: use per-object bit-lock instead of global RWLock for GWeakRef

Replace the global RWLock with a per-object locking.

g_object_unref() needs to take a lock for GWeakRef while decrementing
the reference count to zero. That is also the case, when no weak refs
actually are registered because we cannot know that in a race free
manner without taking the lock. Replace the global RWLock with a
per-object bit lock.

Now there are actually two locks. The per-object lock
OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF and a bit lock WEAK_REF_LOCK on
`&weak_ref->priv.p`.

The object lock OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF must be taken first, we
cannot take it after having a WEAK_REF_LOCK lock. This prevents dead
locks.

Downsides:

- this requires to grow the GObject size (on x86_64) to add a
  GObjectPrivate for "optional2_flags". We cannot use the bitlock
  on "optional_flags", because while holding _weak_ref_lock(), we
  need to be able to call g_object_ref(). g_object_ref() locks on
  OPTIONAL_BIT_LOCK_TOGGLE_REFS. If OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF were on
  the same "optional_flags" as OPTIONAL_BIT_LOCK_TOGGLE_REFS, it would
  mean we have cases where we take

     OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF && _weak_ref_lock()

  and cases where we take

    _weak_ref_lock() && OPTIONAL_BIT_LOCK_TOGGLE_REFS

  That would deadlock. We need distinct locks for that. Add another
  gint field in GObjectPrivate for the bitlock OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF.

- now `g_weak_ref_set()` also temporarily raises the ref count on the
  old object. That is because we must keep the old object alive to take
  a OPTIONAL2_BIT_LOCK_G_WEAK_REF lock. Taking and dropping references
  emit toggle notifications, which is a visible change in behavior.
1 file changed
tree: 2d8978a94e1e2f150adf735436c32b5037352380
  1. .gitlab-ci/
  2. .reuse/
  3. docs/
  4. fuzzing/
  5. gio/
  6. girepository/
  7. glib/
  8. gmodule/
  9. gobject/
  10. gthread/
  11. introspection/
  12. LICENSES/
  13. m4macros/
  14. po/
  15. subprojects/
  16. tests/
  17. tools/
  18. .clang-format
  19. .dir-locals.el
  20. .editorconfig
  21. .gitignore
  22. .gitlab-ci.yml
  23. .gitmodules
  24. .lcovrc
  25. CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
  26. CONTRIBUTING.md
  27. glib.doap
  28. INSTALL.md
  29. meson.build
  30. meson_options.txt
  31. NEWS
  32. README.md
  33. SECURITY.md
README.md

GLib

GLib is the low-level core library that forms the basis for projects such as GTK and GNOME. It provides data structure handling for C, portability wrappers, and interfaces for such runtime functionality as an event loop, threads, dynamic loading, and an object system.

The official download locations are: https://download.gnome.org/sources/glib

The official web site is: https://www.gtk.org/

Installation

See the file ‘INSTALL.md’. There is separate and more in-depth documentation for building GLib on Windows.

Supported versions

Upstream GLib only supports the most recent stable release series, the previous stable release series, and the current development release series. All older versions are not supported upstream and may contain bugs, some of which may be exploitable security vulnerabilities.

See SECURITY.md for more details.

Documentation

API documentation is available online for GLib for the:

Discussion

If you have a question about how to use GLib, seek help on GNOME’s Discourse instance. Alternatively, ask a question on StackOverflow and tag it glib.

Reporting bugs

Bugs should be reported to the GNOME issue tracking system. You will need to create an account for yourself. You may also submit bugs by e-mail (without an account) by e-mailing incoming+gnome-glib-658-issue-@gitlab.gnome.org, but this will give you a degraded experience.

Bugs are for reporting problems in GLib itself, not for asking questions about how to use it. To ask questions, use one of our discussion forums.

In bug reports please include:

  • Information about your system. For instance:
    • What operating system and version
    • For Linux, what version of the C library
    • And anything else you think is relevant.
  • How to reproduce the bug.
    • If you can reproduce it with one of the test programs that are built in the tests/ subdirectory, that will be most convenient. Otherwise, please include a short test program that exhibits the behavior. As a last resort, you can also provide a pointer to a larger piece of software that can be downloaded.
  • If the bug was a crash, the exact text that was printed out when the crash occurred.
  • Further information such as stack traces may be useful, but is not necessary.

Contributing to GLib

Please follow the contribution guide to know how to start contributing to GLib.

Patches should be submitted as merge requests to gitlab.gnome.org. If the patch fixes an existing issue, please refer to the issue in your commit message with the following notation (for issue 123):

Closes: #123

Otherwise, create a new merge request that introduces the change. Filing a separate issue is not required.