Hacktoberfest 2026: the issues maintainers tagged for October, open and beginner-friendly. Browse Hacktoberfest issues

Redesign AsyncioWaker around caller-context-independent state transitions

Open
  • Is something wrong?
#217 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Maintainers usually reply within 4 days

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
25/100
Issue type
Refactor
Clarity
Needs clarification
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
rust
Domain
backend, testing-qa

Research direction

Start with src/future/asyncio/waker.rs and the runtime attachment check in src/utils.rs, then run the subprocess regressions in python/tests/test_deadlocks.py. Agree on the state-machine design before implementation; done means the listed wake, callback, shutdown, finalization, and subprocess tests define correct behavior without public Python API changes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

enhancement

Problem and proposed change

AsyncioWaker connects Rust future wakeups to an asyncio.Future. A mutex-protected slot records whether the coroutine is idle, was woken before parking, or is parked on a Python future.

A Rust future can wake:

  • synchronously while Python is polling it; or
  • later from a detached Tokio worker.

The standard Wake trait does not report which context called it. Current code therefore detects attachment at runtime. Parking also invokes Python event-loop methods while holding the slot mutex. These assumptions make lock ordering, shutdown, and interpreter finalization difficult to reason about.

Redesign the state machine so the mutex protects only short state transitions and ownership moves. Release the mutex before calling Python or destroying Python-owned values. Make wake_by_ref work without detecting caller attachment.

Agree on the design first, then implement it separately.

Context

Current slot states and parking path:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/blob/ef53b6c01f174add44c87c184740a02eadf51d7f/src/future/asyncio/waker.rs#L39-L110

Current explicit wake methods and mixed-context Wake implementation:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/blob/ef53b6c01f174add44c87c184740a02eadf51d7f/src/future/asyncio/waker.rs#L113-L172

Current runtime attachment check:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/blob/ef53b6c01f174add44c87c184740a02eadf51d7f/src/utils.rs#L308-L323

Existing subprocess regressions:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/blob/ef53b6c01f174add44c87c184740a02eadf51d7f/python/tests/test_deadlocks.py#L27-L132

The same-thread re-entry report #212 was closed as not planned. This proposal is broader structural hardening, not an automatic reopening:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/issues/212

An unconditional Python attachment on every worker wake could hurt performance. Related investigation:

https://github.com/scylladb/python-rs-driver/issues/179

Acceptance criteria

  • The slot guard protects only state transitions and ownership moves.
  • Python calls and Python-owned-value destruction occur after unlocking.
  • wake_by_ref does not need to detect caller attachment.
  • Wake before, during, and after parking remains correct.
  • Tests cover synchronous self-wake and detached worker wake.
  • Tests cover callback completion, close, cancel, and exception delivery.
  • Task destruction and runtime shutdown behavior are defined.
  • Interpreter-finalization behavior is defined if any fallback attaches.
  • Potential hangs run in subprocesses with external watchdogs.
  • Tests detect lost and duplicate wakeups.
  • The worker fast path does not gain unconditional Python attachment without an explicit performance decision.
  • No public Python API changes.
Dominant language
Rust
Stars
6
Forks
8
Avg merge
5d 15h
Merged PRs (30d)
14

Getting set up

  • Ships a Dockerfile or Docker Compose file
  • Has a pull request template
  • No contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

More from scylladb/python-rs-driver

All issues in scylladb/python-rs-driver

Similar issues

More Rust issues

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.