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493 lines
18 KiB
Markdown
493 lines
18 KiB
Markdown
# Log Contexts
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To help track the processing of individual requests, synapse uses a
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'`log context`' to track which request it is handling at any given
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moment. This is done via a thread-local variable; a `logging.Filter` is
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then used to fish the information back out of the thread-local variable
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and add it to each log record.
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Logcontexts are also used for CPU and database accounting, so that we
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can track which requests were responsible for high CPU use or database
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activity.
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The `synapse.logging.context` module provides a facilities for managing
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the current log context (as well as providing the `LoggingContextFilter`
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class).
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Deferreds make the whole thing complicated, so this document describes
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how it all works, and how to write code which follows the rules.
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## Logcontexts without Deferreds
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In the absence of any Deferred voodoo, things are simple enough. As with
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any code of this nature, the rule is that our function should leave
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things as it found them:
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```python
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from synapse.logging import context # omitted from future snippets
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def handle_request(request_id):
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request_context = context.LoggingContext()
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calling_context = context.set_current_context(request_context)
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try:
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request_context.request = request_id
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do_request_handling()
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logger.debug("finished")
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finally:
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context.set_current_context(calling_context)
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def do_request_handling():
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logger.debug("phew") # this will be logged against request_id
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```
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LoggingContext implements the context management methods, so the above
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can be written much more succinctly as:
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```python
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def handle_request(request_id):
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with context.LoggingContext() as request_context:
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request_context.request = request_id
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do_request_handling()
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logger.debug("finished")
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def do_request_handling():
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logger.debug("phew")
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```
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## Using logcontexts with Deferreds
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Deferreds --- and in particular, `defer.inlineCallbacks` --- break the
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linear flow of code so that there is no longer a single entry point
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where we should set the logcontext and a single exit point where we
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should remove it.
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Consider the example above, where `do_request_handling` needs to do some
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blocking operation, and returns a deferred:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def handle_request(request_id):
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with context.LoggingContext() as request_context:
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request_context.request = request_id
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yield do_request_handling()
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logger.debug("finished")
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```
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In the above flow:
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- The logcontext is set
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- `do_request_handling` is called, and returns a deferred
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- `handle_request` yields the deferred
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- The `inlineCallbacks` wrapper of `handle_request` returns a deferred
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So we have stopped processing the request (and will probably go on to
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start processing the next), without clearing the logcontext.
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To circumvent this problem, synapse code assumes that, wherever you have
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a deferred, you will want to yield on it. To that end, whereever
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functions return a deferred, we adopt the following conventions:
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**Rules for functions returning deferreds:**
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> - If the deferred is already complete, the function returns with the
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> same logcontext it started with.
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> - If the deferred is incomplete, the function clears the logcontext
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> before returning; when the deferred completes, it restores the
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> logcontext before running any callbacks.
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That sounds complicated, but actually it means a lot of code (including
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the example above) "just works". There are two cases:
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- If `do_request_handling` returns a completed deferred, then the
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logcontext will still be in place. In this case, execution will
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continue immediately after the `yield`; the "finished" line will
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be logged against the right context, and the `with` block restores
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the original context before we return to the caller.
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- If the returned deferred is incomplete, `do_request_handling` clears
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the logcontext before returning. The logcontext is therefore clear
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when `handle_request` yields the deferred. At that point, the
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`inlineCallbacks` wrapper adds a callback to the deferred, and
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returns another (incomplete) deferred to the caller, and it is safe
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to begin processing the next request.
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Once `do_request_handling`'s deferred completes, it will reinstate
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the logcontext, before running the callback added by the
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`inlineCallbacks` wrapper. That callback runs the second half of
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`handle_request`, so again the "finished" line will be logged
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against the right context, and the `with` block restores the
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original context.
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As an aside, it's worth noting that `handle_request` follows our rules
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-though that only matters if the caller has its own logcontext which it
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cares about.
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The following sections describe pitfalls and helpful patterns when
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implementing these rules.
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Always yield your deferreds
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---------------------------
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Whenever you get a deferred back from a function, you should `yield` on
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it as soon as possible. (Returning it directly to your caller is ok too,
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if you're not doing `inlineCallbacks`.) Do not pass go; do not do any
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logging; do not call any other functions.
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def fun():
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logger.debug("starting")
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yield do_some_stuff() # just like this
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d = more_stuff()
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result = yield d # also fine, of course
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return result
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def nonInlineCallbacksFun():
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logger.debug("just a wrapper really")
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return do_some_stuff() # this is ok too - the caller will yield on
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# it anyway.
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```
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Provided this pattern is followed all the way back up to the callchain
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to where the logcontext was set, this will make things work out ok:
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provided `do_some_stuff` and `more_stuff` follow the rules above, then
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so will `fun` (as wrapped by `inlineCallbacks`) and
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`nonInlineCallbacksFun`.
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It's all too easy to forget to `yield`: for instance if we forgot that
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`do_some_stuff` returned a deferred, we might plough on regardless. This
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leads to a mess; it will probably work itself out eventually, but not
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before a load of stuff has been logged against the wrong context.
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(Normally, other things will break, more obviously, if you forget to
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`yield`, so this tends not to be a major problem in practice.)
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Of course sometimes you need to do something a bit fancier with your
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Deferreds - not all code follows the linear A-then-B-then-C pattern.
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Notes on implementing more complex patterns are in later sections.
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## Where you create a new Deferred, make it follow the rules
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Most of the time, a Deferred comes from another synapse function.
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Sometimes, though, we need to make up a new Deferred, or we get a
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Deferred back from external code. We need to make it follow our rules.
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The easy way to do it is with a combination of `defer.inlineCallbacks`,
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and `context.PreserveLoggingContext`. Suppose we want to implement
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`sleep`, which returns a deferred which will run its callbacks after a
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given number of seconds. That might look like:
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```python
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# not a logcontext-rules-compliant function
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def get_sleep_deferred(seconds):
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d = defer.Deferred()
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reactor.callLater(seconds, d.callback, None)
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return d
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```
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That doesn't follow the rules, but we can fix it by wrapping it with
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`PreserveLoggingContext` and `yield` ing on it:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def sleep(seconds):
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with PreserveLoggingContext():
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yield get_sleep_deferred(seconds)
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```
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This technique works equally for external functions which return
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deferreds, or deferreds we have made ourselves.
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You can also use `context.make_deferred_yieldable`, which just does the
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boilerplate for you, so the above could be written:
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```python
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def sleep(seconds):
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return context.make_deferred_yieldable(get_sleep_deferred(seconds))
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```
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## Fire-and-forget
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Sometimes you want to fire off a chain of execution, but not wait for
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its result. That might look a bit like this:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def do_request_handling():
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yield foreground_operation()
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# *don't* do this
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background_operation()
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logger.debug("Request handling complete")
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def background_operation():
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yield first_background_step()
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logger.debug("Completed first step")
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yield second_background_step()
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logger.debug("Completed second step")
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```
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The above code does a couple of steps in the background after
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`do_request_handling` has finished. The log lines are still logged
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against the `request_context` logcontext, which may or may not be
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desirable. There are two big problems with the above, however. The first
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problem is that, if `background_operation` returns an incomplete
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Deferred, it will expect its caller to `yield` immediately, so will have
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cleared the logcontext. In this example, that means that 'Request
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handling complete' will be logged without any context.
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The second problem, which is potentially even worse, is that when the
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Deferred returned by `background_operation` completes, it will restore
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the original logcontext. There is nothing waiting on that Deferred, so
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the logcontext will leak into the reactor and possibly get attached to
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some arbitrary future operation.
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There are two potential solutions to this.
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One option is to surround the call to `background_operation` with a
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`PreserveLoggingContext` call. That will reset the logcontext before
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starting `background_operation` (so the context restored when the
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deferred completes will be the empty logcontext), and will restore the
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current logcontext before continuing the foreground process:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def do_request_handling():
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yield foreground_operation()
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# start background_operation off in the empty logcontext, to
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# avoid leaking the current context into the reactor.
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with PreserveLoggingContext():
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background_operation()
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# this will now be logged against the request context
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logger.debug("Request handling complete")
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```
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Obviously that option means that the operations done in
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`background_operation` would be not be logged against a logcontext
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(though that might be fixed by setting a different logcontext via a
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`with LoggingContext(...)` in `background_operation`).
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The second option is to use `context.run_in_background`, which wraps a
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function so that it doesn't reset the logcontext even when it returns
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an incomplete deferred, and adds a callback to the returned deferred to
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reset the logcontext. In other words, it turns a function that follows
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the Synapse rules about logcontexts and Deferreds into one which behaves
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more like an external function --- the opposite operation to that
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described in the previous section. It can be used like this:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def do_request_handling():
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yield foreground_operation()
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context.run_in_background(background_operation)
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# this will now be logged against the request context
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logger.debug("Request handling complete")
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```
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## Passing synapse deferreds into third-party functions
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A typical example of this is where we want to collect together two or
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more deferred via `defer.gatherResults`:
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```python
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d1 = operation1()
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d2 = operation2()
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d3 = defer.gatherResults([d1, d2])
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```
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This is really a variation of the fire-and-forget problem above, in that
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we are firing off `d1` and `d2` without yielding on them. The difference
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is that we now have third-party code attached to their callbacks. Anyway
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either technique given in the [Fire-and-forget](#fire-and-forget)
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section will work.
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Of course, the new Deferred returned by `gatherResults` needs to be
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wrapped in order to make it follow the logcontext rules before we can
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yield it, as described in [Where you create a new Deferred, make it
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follow the
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rules](#where-you-create-a-new-deferred-make-it-follow-the-rules).
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So, option one: reset the logcontext before starting the operations to
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be gathered:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def do_request_handling():
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with PreserveLoggingContext():
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d1 = operation1()
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d2 = operation2()
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result = yield defer.gatherResults([d1, d2])
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```
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In this case particularly, though, option two, of using
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`context.preserve_fn` almost certainly makes more sense, so that
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`operation1` and `operation2` are both logged against the original
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logcontext. This looks like:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def do_request_handling():
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d1 = context.preserve_fn(operation1)()
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d2 = context.preserve_fn(operation2)()
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with PreserveLoggingContext():
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result = yield defer.gatherResults([d1, d2])
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```
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## Was all this really necessary?
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The conventions used work fine for a linear flow where everything
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happens in series via `defer.inlineCallbacks` and `yield`, but are
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certainly tricky to follow for any more exotic flows. It's hard not to
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wonder if we could have done something else.
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We're not going to rewrite Synapse now, so the following is entirely of
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academic interest, but I'd like to record some thoughts on an
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alternative approach.
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I briefly prototyped some code following an alternative set of rules. I
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think it would work, but I certainly didn't get as far as thinking how
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it would interact with concepts as complicated as the cache descriptors.
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My alternative rules were:
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- functions always preserve the logcontext of their caller, whether or
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not they are returning a Deferred.
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- Deferreds returned by synapse functions run their callbacks in the
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same context as the function was orignally called in.
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The main point of this scheme is that everywhere that sets the
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logcontext is responsible for clearing it before returning control to
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the reactor.
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So, for example, if you were the function which started a
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`with LoggingContext` block, you wouldn't `yield` within it --- instead
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you'd start off the background process, and then leave the `with` block
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to wait for it:
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```python
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def handle_request(request_id):
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with context.LoggingContext() as request_context:
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request_context.request = request_id
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d = do_request_handling()
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def cb(r):
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logger.debug("finished")
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d.addCallback(cb)
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return d
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```
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(in general, mixing `with LoggingContext` blocks and
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`defer.inlineCallbacks` in the same function leads to slighly
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counter-intuitive code, under this scheme).
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Because we leave the original `with` block as soon as the Deferred is
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returned (as opposed to waiting for it to be resolved, as we do today),
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the logcontext is cleared before control passes back to the reactor; so
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if there is some code within `do_request_handling` which needs to wait
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for a Deferred to complete, there is no need for it to worry about
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clearing the logcontext before doing so:
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```python
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def handle_request():
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r = do_some_stuff()
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r.addCallback(do_some_more_stuff)
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return r
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```
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--- and provided `do_some_stuff` follows the rules of returning a
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Deferred which runs its callbacks in the original logcontext, all is
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happy.
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The business of a Deferred which runs its callbacks in the original
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logcontext isn't hard to achieve --- we have it today, in the shape of
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`context._PreservingContextDeferred`:
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```python
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def do_some_stuff():
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deferred = do_some_io()
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pcd = _PreservingContextDeferred(LoggingContext.current_context())
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deferred.chainDeferred(pcd)
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return pcd
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```
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It turns out that, thanks to the way that Deferreds chain together, we
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automatically get the property of a context-preserving deferred with
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`defer.inlineCallbacks`, provided the final Defered the function
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`yields` on has that property. So we can just write:
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```python
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def handle_request():
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yield do_some_stuff()
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yield do_some_more_stuff()
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```
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To conclude: I think this scheme would have worked equally well, with
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less danger of messing it up, and probably made some more esoteric code
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easier to write. But again --- changing the conventions of the entire
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Synapse codebase is not a sensible option for the marginal improvement
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offered.
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## A note on garbage-collection of Deferred chains
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It turns out that our logcontext rules do not play nicely with Deferred
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chains which get orphaned and garbage-collected.
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Imagine we have some code that looks like this:
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```python
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listener_queue = []
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def on_something_interesting():
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for d in listener_queue:
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d.callback("foo")
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@defer.inlineCallbacks
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def await_something_interesting():
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new_deferred = defer.Deferred()
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listener_queue.append(new_deferred)
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with PreserveLoggingContext():
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yield new_deferred
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```
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Obviously, the idea here is that we have a bunch of things which are
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waiting for an event. (It's just an example of the problem here, but a
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relatively common one.)
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Now let's imagine two further things happen. First of all, whatever was
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waiting for the interesting thing goes away. (Perhaps the request times
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out, or something *even more* interesting happens.)
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Secondly, let's suppose that we decide that the interesting thing is
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never going to happen, and we reset the listener queue:
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```python
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def reset_listener_queue():
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listener_queue.clear()
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```
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So, both ends of the deferred chain have now dropped their references,
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and the deferred chain is now orphaned, and will be garbage-collected at
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some point. Note that `await_something_interesting` is a generator
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function, and when Python garbage-collects generator functions, it gives
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them a chance to clean up by making the `yield` raise a `GeneratorExit`
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exception. In our case, that means that the `__exit__` handler of
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`PreserveLoggingContext` will carefully restore the request context, but
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there is now nothing waiting for its return, so the request context is
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never cleared.
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To reiterate, this problem only arises when *both* ends of a deferred
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chain are dropped. Dropping the the reference to a deferred you're
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supposed to be calling is probably bad practice, so this doesn't
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actually happen too much. Unfortunately, when it does happen, it will
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lead to leaked logcontexts which are incredibly hard to track down.
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