Boost interprocess named_condition_any not notifying - c++

Question

I'm trying to switch an application over from using boost::interprocess::named_mutex to boost::interprocess::file_lock for interprocess synchronization, but when I did so I noticed that my condition variables were never being woken up.
I've created two examples that demonstrate the types of changes I made and the issues I'm seeing. In both examples the same application should periodically send notifications if invoked with any arguments, or wait for notifications if invoked with no arguments
Originally my application used name_mutex and named_condition. The below example using name_mutex and named_condition works as expected: every time the "sender" application prints out "Notifying" the "receiver" application prints out "Notified!" (provided I manually clean out /dev/shm/ between runs).
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/scoped_lock.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/named_condition.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/named_mutex.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
boost::interprocess::named_mutex mutex(boost::interprocess::open_or_create,
"mutex");
// Create condition variable
boost::interprocess::named_condition cond(boost::interprocess::open_or_create, "cond");
while(true)
{
if(argc > 1)
{// Sender
std::cout << "Notifying" << std::endl;
cond.notify_all();
boost::this_thread::sleep_for(boost::chrono::seconds(1));
}
else
{// Receiver
std::cout << "Acquiring lock..." << std::endl;
boost::interprocess::scoped_lock<boost::interprocess::named_mutex> lock(mutex);
std::cout << "Locked. Waiting for notification..." << std::endl;
cond.wait(lock);
std::cout << "Notified!" << std::endl;
}
}
return 0;
}
The following code represents my attempt to change the working code above from using name_mutex and named_condition to using file_lock and named_condition_any
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/scoped_lock.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/named_condition_any.hpp>
#include <boost/interprocess/sync/file_lock.hpp>
#include <boost/thread.hpp>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
// Second option for locking
boost::interprocess::file_lock flock("/tmp/flock");
// Create condition variable
boost::interprocess::named_condition_any cond(boost::interprocess::open_or_create,
"cond_any");
while(true)
{
if(argc > 1)
{// Sender
std::cout << "Notifying" << std::endl;
cond.notify_all();
boost::this_thread::sleep_for(boost::chrono::seconds(1));
}
else
{// Receiver
std::cout << "Acquiring lock..." << std::endl;
boost::interprocess::scoped_lock<boost::interprocess::file_lock> lock(flock);
std::cout << "Locked. Waiting for notification..." << std::endl;
cond.wait(lock);
std::cout << "Notified!" << std::endl;
}
}
return 0;
}
However I can't seem to get the "receiver" application to wake up when notified. The "sender" happily prints "Notifying" at ~1Hz, but the "receiver" hangs after printing "Locked. Waiting for notification..." once.
What am I doing wrong with my file_lock/named_condition_any implementation?

Answer 1

This appears to be caused by a bug in the implementation of boost::interprocess::named_condition_any.
boost::interprocess::named_condition_any is implemented using an instance of boost::interprocess::ipcdetail::shm_named_condition_any. boost::interprocess::ipcdetail::shm_named_condition_any has all of the member variables associated with its implementation aggregated into a class called internal_condition_members. When shm_named_condition_any is constructed it either creates or opens shared memory. If it creates the shared memory it also instantiates an internal_condition_members object in that shared memory.
The problem is that shm_named_condition_any also maintains a "local" (i.e. just on the stack, not in shared memory) member instance of an internal_condition_members object, and its wait, timed_wait, notify_one, and notify_all functions are all implemented using the local internal_condition_members member instead of the internal_condition_members from shared memory.
I was able to get the expected behavior from my example by editing boost/interprocess/sync/shm/named_condition_any.hpp and changing the implementation of the shm_named_condition_any class as follows:
typedef ipcdetail::condition_any_wrapper<internal_condition_members> internal_condition;
internal_condition m_cond;
to
typedef ipcdetail::condition_any_wrapper<internal_condition_members> internal_condition;
internal_condition &internal_cond()
{ return *static_cast<internal_condition*>(m_shmem.get_user_address()); }
and changing all usages of m_cond to this->internal_cond(). This is analogous to how the shm_named_condition class is implemented.