gh-102512: Turn _DummyThread into _MainThread after os.fork() called from a foreign thread (GH-113261)

Always set a _MainThread as a main thread after os.fork() is called from
a thread started not by the threading module.

A new _MainThread was already set as a new main thread after fork if
threading.current_thread() was not called for a foreign thread before fork.
Now, if it was called before fork, the implicitly created _DummyThread will
be turned into _MainThread after fork.

It fixes, in particularly, an incompatibility of _DummyThread with
the threading shutdown logic which relies on the main thread
having tstate_lock.

Co-authored-by: Marek Marczykowski-Górecki <[email protected]>

Author: serhiy-storchaka

Lib/test/test_threading.py

@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ def tearDown(self):
 
 
 class ThreadTests(BaseTestCase):
+    maxDiff = 9999
 
     @cpython_only
     def test_name(self):
@@ -676,19 +677,25 @@ def test_main_thread_after_fork(self):
             import os, threading
             from test import support
 
+            ident = threading.get_ident()
             pid = os.fork()
             if pid == 0:
+                print("current ident", threading.get_ident() == ident)
                 main = threading.main_thread()
-                print(main.name)
-                print(main.ident == threading.current_thread().ident)
-                print(main.ident == threading.get_ident())
+                print("main", main.name)
+                print("main ident", main.ident == ident)
+                print("current is main", threading.current_thread() is main)
             else:
                 support.wait_process(pid, exitcode=0)
         """
         _, out, err = assert_python_ok("-c", code)
         data = out.decode().replace('\r', '')
         self.assertEqual(err, b"")
-        self.assertEqual(data, "MainThread\nTrue\nTrue\n")
+        self.assertEqual(data,
+                         "current ident True\n"
+                         "main MainThread\n"
+                         "main ident True\n"
+                         "current is main True\n")
 
     @skip_unless_reliable_fork
     @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(os, 'waitpid'), "test needs os.waitpid()")
@@ -698,15 +705,17 @@ def test_main_thread_after_fork_from_nonmain_thread(self):
             from test import support
 
             def func():
+                ident = threading.get_ident()
                 with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as ws:
                     warnings.filterwarnings(
                             "always", category=DeprecationWarning)
                     pid = os.fork()
                     if pid == 0:
+                        print("current ident", threading.get_ident() == ident)
                         main = threading.main_thread()
-                        print(main.name)
-                        print(main.ident == threading.current_thread().ident)
-                        print(main.ident == threading.get_ident())
+                        print("main", main.name, type(main).__name__)
+                        print("main ident", main.ident == ident)
+                        print("current is main", threading.current_thread() is main)
                         # stdout is fully buffered because not a tty,
                         # we have to flush before exit.
                         sys.stdout.flush()
@@ -722,7 +731,80 @@ def func():
         _, out, err = assert_python_ok("-c", code)
         data = out.decode().replace('\r', '')
         self.assertEqual(err.decode('utf-8'), "")
-        self.assertEqual(data, "Thread-1 (func)\nTrue\nTrue\n")
+        self.assertEqual(data,
+                         "current ident True\n"
+                         "main Thread-1 (func) Thread\n"
+                         "main ident True\n"
+                         "current is main True\n"
+                         )
+
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.platform in platforms_to_skip, "due to known OS bug")
+    @support.requires_fork()
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(os, 'waitpid'), "test needs os.waitpid()")
+    def test_main_thread_after_fork_from_foreign_thread(self, create_dummy=False):
+        code = """if 1:
+            import os, threading, sys, traceback, _thread
+            from test import support
+
+            def func(lock):
+                ident = threading.get_ident()
+                if %s:
+                    # call current_thread() before fork to allocate DummyThread
+                    current = threading.current_thread()
+                    print("current", current.name, type(current).__name__)
+                print("ident in _active", ident in threading._active)
+                # flush before fork, so child won't flush it again
+                sys.stdout.flush()
+                pid = os.fork()
+                if pid == 0:
+                    print("current ident", threading.get_ident() == ident)
+                    main = threading.main_thread()
+                    print("main", main.name, type(main).__name__)
+                    print("main ident", main.ident == ident)
+                    print("current is main", threading.current_thread() is main)
+                    print("_dangling", [t.name for t in list(threading._dangling)])
+                    # stdout is fully buffered because not a tty,
+                    # we have to flush before exit.
+                    sys.stdout.flush()
+                    try:
+                        threading._shutdown()
+                        os._exit(0)
+                    except:
+                        traceback.print_exc()
+                        sys.stderr.flush()
+                        os._exit(1)
+                else:
+                    try:
+                        support.wait_process(pid, exitcode=0)
+                    except Exception:
+                        # avoid 'could not acquire lock for
+                        # <_io.BufferedWriter name='<stderr>'> at interpreter shutdown,'
+                        traceback.print_exc()
+                        sys.stderr.flush()
+                    finally:
+                        lock.release()
+
+            join_lock = _thread.allocate_lock()
+            join_lock.acquire()
+            th = _thread.start_new_thread(func, (join_lock,))
+            join_lock.acquire()
+        """ % create_dummy
+        # "DeprecationWarning: This process is multi-threaded, use of fork()
+        # may lead to deadlocks in the child"
+        _, out, err = assert_python_ok("-W", "ignore::DeprecationWarning", "-c", code)
+        data = out.decode().replace('\r', '')
+        self.assertEqual(err.decode(), "")
+        self.assertEqual(data,
+                         ("current Dummy-1 _DummyThread\n" if create_dummy else "") +
+                         f"ident in _active {create_dummy!s}\n" +
+                         "current ident True\n"
+                         "main MainThread _MainThread\n"
+                         "main ident True\n"
+                         "current is main True\n"
+                         "_dangling ['MainThread']\n")
+
+    def test_main_thread_after_fork_from_dummy_thread(self, create_dummy=False):
+        self.test_main_thread_after_fork_from_foreign_thread(create_dummy=True)
 
     def test_main_thread_during_shutdown(self):
         # bpo-31516: current_thread() should still point to the main thread

Lib/threading.py

@@ -1489,7 +1489,6 @@ class _DummyThread(Thread):
     def __init__(self):
         Thread.__init__(self, name=_newname("Dummy-%d"),
                         daemon=_daemon_threads_allowed())
-
         self._started.set()
         self._set_ident()
         if _HAVE_THREAD_NATIVE_ID:
@@ -1508,6 +1507,14 @@ def is_alive(self):
     def join(self, timeout=None):
         raise RuntimeError("cannot join a dummy thread")
 
+    def _after_fork(self, new_ident=None):
+        if new_ident is not None:
+            self.__class__ = _MainThread
+            self._name = 'MainThread'
+            self._daemonic = False
+            self._set_tstate_lock()
+        Thread._after_fork(self, new_ident=new_ident)
+
 
 # Global API functions
 

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2023-03-08-00-02-30.gh-issue-102512.LiugDr.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+When :func:`os.fork` is called from a foreign thread (aka ``_DummyThread``),
+the type of the thread in a child process is changed to ``_MainThread``.
+Also changed its name and daemonic status, it can be now joined.