[erlang-questions] is this a shell bug?

Erik Søe Sørensen eriksoe@REDACTED
Tue Apr 24 22:31:23 CEST 2012


It is a consequence of the fact that the shell is interpreted; the way the
pattern-and-guard condition is evaluated is that it is interpreted (from
symbolic form) by the shell, which is a normal Erlang program. Thus the
shell can't use normal receive for two reasons: the condition is too
complex to be expressible as a fixed pattern+guard, and messages can't be
put back into the queue once accepted.
This is why the shell has to emulate 'receive' in this way.
Den 24/04/2012 21.24 skrev "Steve Vinoski" <vinoski@REDACTED>:

> On Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 3:56 AM, Attila Rajmund Nohl
> <attila.r.nohl@REDACTED> wrote:
> > 2012/4/23 吴磊 <mjollnir.ray@REDACTED>:
> >> Erlang R15B01 (erts-5.9.1) [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4]
> >> [async-threads:0] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false]
> >>
> >> Eshell V5.9.1  (abort with ^G)
> >> 1> self().
> >> <0.32.0>
> >> 2> process_flag(trap_exit, true).
> >> false
> >> 3>  spawn_link(fun() -> ok end).
> >> <0.36.0>
> >> 4> process_info(self(), messages).
> >> {messages,[{'EXIT',<0.36.0>,normal}]}
> >> 5> receive X -> X end.
> >> {'EXIT',<0.36.0>,normal}
> >> 6>  spawn_link(fun() -> ok end).
> >> <0.40.0>
> >> 7> process_info(self(), messages).
> >> {messages,[{'EXIT',<0.40.0>,normal}]}
> >> 8> receive X -> X end.
> >>
> >> shell SUSPENDING .... WHAT's happed here?
> >
> > X was already bound, so you were waiting for {'EXIT',<0.36.0>,normal},
> > but got {'EXIT',<0.40.0>,normal}
>
> That much is true, but there's something else interesting here. Look
> more carefully at the output from the second shell in the original
> message, repeated below:
>
> ^G
> User switch command
>  --> s
>  --> c
> Eshell V5.9.1  (abort with ^G)
> 1> process_info(pid(0,32,0), current_function).
> {current_function,{erl_eval,receive_clauses,6}}
> 2> process_info(pid(0,32,0), messages).
> {messages,[]}
>
> The second call to process_info shows the first shell's message queue
> to be empty, when in fact it isn't. Could this be the problem to which
> the original author was actually referring?
>
> Here's a variant of the same. First, set X and then spawn a new
> process, same as in the original posting:
>
> Eshell V5.9.1  (abort with ^G)
> 1> self().
> <0.31.0>
> 2> process_flag(trap_exit, true).
> false
> 3> spawn_link(fun() -> ok end).
> <0.35.0>
> 4> process_info(self(), messages).
> {messages,[{'EXIT',<0.35.0>,normal}]}
> 5> receive X -> X end.
> {'EXIT',<0.35.0>,normal}
> 6> spawn_link(fun() -> ok end).
> <0.39.0>
>
> At this point we should have an EXIT tuple in this shell's message
> queue. Next, start a new shell, and use it to verify that the first
> shell's message queue is not empty:
>
> ^G
> User switch command
>  --> s
>  --> c
> Eshell V5.9.1  (abort with ^G)
> 1> process_info(pid(0,31,0), messages).
> {messages,[{'EXIT',<0.39.0>,normal}]}
>
> Just what we expect to see. Now, get the pid of the second shell, and
> then switch back to the first shell. In the first shell, start a
> receive like in the original message, but add a 30 second timeout, and
> send a 'done' message to the second shell after the timeout:
>
> 2> self().
> <0.43.0>
>
> ^G
> User switch command
>  --> c 1
> 7> receive X -> X after 30000 -> pid(0,43,0) ! done end.
>
> Now quickly switch back to the second shell, check the first shell's
> message queue, and then wait for the 'done' message:
>
> User switch command
>  --> c 2
> 3> process_info(pid(0,31,0), messages).
> {messages,[]}
> 4> receive done -> process_info(pid(0,31,0), messages) end.
> {messages,[{'EXIT',<0.39.0>,normal}]}
>
> Check that out -- while the first shell is trying to receive X,
> examining its message queue from the second shell shows that queue to
> be empty, contrary to what we saw the first time we checked it from
> the second shell, where it held the EXIT tuple for the second spawned
> process. But after the first shell's receive times out and the second
> shell gets the 'done' message, checking the first shell's message
> queue again shows it to contain the same EXIT tuple as before.
>
> In section 8.6 of his book, Joe describes a "save queue" used during
> selective receive, and this behavior matches his description. But if
> you write a program that does the same thing, it acts differently;
> unlike the shell, you won't observe an empty message queue during a
> receive. So this behavior must be a shell thing. I don't know the
> details of why it acts this way -- chatting about it with Scott
> Fritchie, he guessed it might have something to do with the other
> messaging the shell has to do, but neither of us knows for sure. Can
> someone explain why the shell seems to use an actual "save queue"
> during a receive?
>
> --steve
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