Implement bugfix for child-workflow bug in #1138 #1144
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Groxx
changed the title
just-at-uber
approved these changes
Nov 3, 2021
A user noticed incorrect cancellation behavior on one of their workflows,
which had workflow code somewhat like this:
```go
// start a bunch of child workflows, add to `cfs`
var cfs []workflow.Future
for _, arg := range args {
cfs = append(cfs, workflow.ExecuteChildWorkflow(ctx, "stuff", arg)
}
// wait for them to complete
for _, f := range cfs {
f.Get(...)
}
// run a final child workflow to do the final report
workflow.ExecuteChildWorkflow(ctx, "final", ...).Get(ctx, nil)
```
When they canceled their parent workflow while "stuff" was still running, it would
wait for all the "stuff" to cancel and return (as expected)...
... and then it would start the "final" child, which would never actually finish
because the previous "stuff" was canceled, not completed.
For cancellation prior to calling `ExecuteChildWorkflow`, this can be worked around by
checking `ctx.Err() == nil`, and only executing if true.
For cancellation *between* `ExecuteChildWorkflow` and the child being scheduled,
there may not be a viable workaround. This time window is thankfully usually very
small, so *most* workflows should not have to worry about it.
---
The cause appears to be that this cancellation check in `ExecuteChildWorkflow` depends
on `childWorkflowExecution` being non-nil (since that sends the cancellation event):
https://github.com/uber-go/cadence-client/blob/8fff028e0c174fdf14df6520a68ce086c2b272f4/internal/workflow.go#L905-L917
but that variable is only set when the child workflow's "execution" future completes
(i.e. it has been scheduled successfully):
https://github.com/uber-go/cadence-client/blob/8fff028e0c174fdf14df6520a68ce086c2b272f4/internal/workflow.go#L886-L897
If cancellation occurs prior to that point, the cancellation is ignored for this child.
Unfortunately it will also not "detect" this "lost" cancellation later in any way, so
the child workflow acts as if it was run with a `workflow.NewDisconnectedContext`,
though it was not.
---
... unfortunately, fixing this can cause non-deterministic replay errors for anyone
who had previously executed the child. For some users this is probably fine (just reset),
but not for everyone.
On a fundamental level, we need a way to safely make semantic changes (due to bugfixes or
just improvements) in the client, and we do not seem to have an established way to do
that yet. Fixing this safely may require us to come up with a strategy, build that, and
make use of it.
Resolves uber-go#1138 by correcting the bug. As this is a non-backwards-compatible change, the next commit contains a "backport" of sorts to allow selecting the buggy behavior if necessary, to ease migration.
Introduces and uses a "bug backport" config, to allow selecting old behavior that could not be fixed in a completely transparent way. See code comments for detailed use for this new flag. In general we should treat this config as *somewhat desirable* to keep when the upkeep cost is low or zero, but it does represent known tech debt that we need to clean up at some point. When adding or removing fields on it, make sure to cover it in the version notes!
Groxx
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The three commits in this PR are relevant for discussion, possibly also merging:
#1138" is the "bare" bugfix, which I believe to be a complete fix... which is not backwards compatible because it changes behavior.We can decide whether or not the current and future complexity is worth commit 3, but I think it's... not too bad?
Other options include:
GetVersioninternally when the bug might be triggered, with the same logic as the field check here.BinaryChecksum. Use "no version" to mean "contains bug" and act appropriately.GetVersion, but (relatively) "free" from markers that a bug is being addressed, as well as for future bugs.