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Posted to log4j-dev@logging.apache.org by "Remko Popma (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org> on 2014/01/05 09:16:50 UTC

[jira] [Resolved] (LOG4J2-485) toString methods that perform logging can deadlock AsyncAppender

     [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LOG4J2-485?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel ]

Remko Popma resolved LOG4J2-485.
--------------------------------

    Resolution: Fixed

I applied the same idea as in LOG4J2-471 here: 
Use a threadlocal variable to detect whether we're about to add a LogEvent to the queue from the Appender thread. If that is the case and the queue is full, then bypass the queue and do the Appender thread work directly (callAppenders).

As with LOG4J2-471, I have been unable to create JUnit tests for the deadlock scenario, and instead I used the DeadLockDemo class in the description above to verify the solution. Without the patch the demo class reliably deadlocks, with the patch there is no deadlock.

Fixed in revision 1555468.


> toString methods that perform logging can deadlock AsyncAppender
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: LOG4J2-485
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LOG4J2-485
>             Project: Log4j 2
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: Appenders
>    Affects Versions: 2.0-beta9
>            Reporter: Remko Popma
>            Assignee: Remko Popma
>             Fix For: 2.0-rc1, 2.0
>
>
> During analysis of LOG4J2-471, I found the same issue can happen with AsyncAppender. Summary of the problem:
> Application thread A calls {{Logger.log()}}, which puts LogEvents in a queue. Appender thread B takes LogEvents off the queue, converts them to a byte[] array and saves this byte array to disk. The conversion from a LogEvent to a byte[] array may itself result in calls to {{Logger.log()}} (particularly if logging is done from the {{toString()}} method of an object that is being logged).
> Here is where the problem occurs: if the Appender thread calls {{Logger.log()}} when processing LogEvents from the queue, and it happens that the queue is full, then in blocking mode, the Appender thread will block until space is available in the queue. Unfortunately space will only become available if the Appender consumes LogEvents, but the Appender thread is blocked... resulting in deadlock.
> It is possible to configure {{AsyncAppender}} with {{blocking="false"}}, which will log to an errorAppender when the queue is full, but a better solution would be to prevent deadlock in the above scenario.
> The problem can be reproduced with this program:
> {code}
> package demo.deadlock;
> import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
> import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
> public class DeadlockDemo {
>     static Logger sLog = LogManager.getLogger(DeadlockDemo.class);
>     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
>         try {
>             System.out.println("(Sysout) Before throwing ex...");
>             sLog.info("(Log) Before throwing ex...");
>             Thread.sleep(1000);
>             throw new LoggingEx();
>         } catch (Exception ex) {
>             sLog.warn("Caught a {} problem", ex, ex);
>             sLog.error(ex, ex);
>         }
>         System.out.println("(Sysout) After catching ex");
>         sLog.info("(Log) After catching ex");
>         
>         Thread.sleep(1000);
>         System.out.println("(Sysout) After 1 sec..."); // I still see this
>         sLog.info("(Log) After 1 sec..."); // causes deadlock on my laptop
>         
>         Thread.sleep(1000);
>         System.out.println("(Sysout) After 2 sec..."); // I don't see this output
>         sLog.info("(Log) After 2 sec...");
>         sLog.info("Done. Completed without deadlock.");
>     }
>     
>     public static class LoggingEx extends Exception {
>         static final Logger exLog = LogManager.getLogger(LoggingEx.class);
>         
>         @Override
>         public String toString() {
>             System.out.println("(Sysout) Before LoggingEx calling logger.debug 300 times...");
>             // fill up AsyncAppender queue (128 slots)
>             for(int i = 0; i < 300; i++) {
>                 exLog.debug("(Log) in LoggingEx.toString() {}...", i);
>             }
>             System.out.println("(Sysout) After LoggingEx called logger.debug 300 times...");
>             try {
>                 Thread.sleep(1000);
>             } catch (InterruptedException e) {
>                 e.printStackTrace();
>             }
>             return "oops";
>         }
>     }
> }
> {code}
> ... and this log4j2.xml config:
> {code}
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <configuration status="TRACE" name="deadlock-demo" packages="">
>   <appenders>
>       <Console name="STDOUT" target="SYSTEM_OUT">
>         <PatternLayout pattern="%m%n"/>
>       </Console>
>     <Async name="Async" bufferSize="128" errorRef="STDOUT">
>       <appenderRef ref="STDOUT" />
>     </Async>
>   </appenders>
>   <loggers>
>     <root level="DEBUG">
>       <appenderRef ref="Async" />
>     </root>
>   </loggers>
> </configuration>
> {code}
> Output:
> {code}
> (Sysout) Before throwing ex...
> (Log) Before throwing ex...
> (Sysout) Before LoggingEx calling logger.debug 300 times...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 0...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 1...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 2...
> ...(omitted)
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 169...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 170...
> (Sysout) After LoggingEx called logger.debug 300 times...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 171...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 172...
> ...(omitted)
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 298...
> (Log) in LoggingEx.toString() 299...
> Caught a oops problem
> demo.deadlock.DeadlockDemo$LoggingEx
> 	at demo.deadlock.DeadlockDemo.main(DeadlockDemo.java:32) [bin/:?]
> (Sysout) After catching ex
> (Sysout) Before LoggingEx calling logger.debug 300 times...
> (Sysout) After 1 sec...
> {code}
> ... and the application hangs.



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