sindresorhus/conf

Support using a Conf store from multiple processes

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#146 opened on Mar 11, 2021

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 (4 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)TypeScript (1,340 stars) (138 forks)user submission
enhancementhelp wanted

Description

Currently if you have multiple processes using conf with the same storage location they can, and do, clobber each other's data.

e.g.

  1. p1 reads store
  2. p2 reads store
  3. p1 writes store
  4. p2 writes store (this clobbers p1's changes in step 3, even if the change was a totally different key)

Any suggestions on how to work around this?

I feel like this could warrant a big disclaimer in the readme.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
typescriptnodejs
Domain
tooling
Issue type
feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
4
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Node.jsasync programmingfile system operations
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40
Research direction
The issue describes a race condition when multiple processes read/write the same config store. A solution likely requires file locking or atomic writes. Investigate Node.js `fs` module for file locking mechanisms (e.g., `fs.open` with exclusive flag) or use a library like `proper lockfile`. The existing code uses `fs.writeFileSync` and `fs.readFileSync`; consider switching to `writeFile` with atomic rename. Look at issue comments for any suggested approaches.