Clojure

• Type: Defect
• Status: Open
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Unresolved
• Affects Version/s: Release 1.7
• Fix Version/s: Release 1.11
• Component/s: None
• Labels:

  • aot
  • classloader
  • compiler

Scenario: Given two files:

src/dispatch/core.clj:

(ns dispatch.core (:require [dispatch.dispatch]))

src/dispatch/dispatch.clj:

(ns dispatch.dispatch)
(deftype T [])
(def t (->T))
(println "T = (class t):" (= T (class t)))

Compile first core, then dispatch:

java -cp src:target/classes:clojure.jar -Dclojure.compile.path=target/classes clojure.main
user=> (compile 'dispatch.core)
T = (class t): true
dispatch.core
user=> (compile 'dispatch.dispatch)
T = (class t): false     ;; expected true
dispatch.dispatch

This scenario more commonly occurs in a leiningen project with :aot :all. Files are compiled in alphabetical order with :all. In this case, dispatch.core will be compiled first, then dispatch.dispatch.

Cause:

(compile 'dispatch.core)

• transitively compiles dispatch.dispatch
• writes .class files to compile-path (which is on the classpath)
• assertion passes

(compile 'dispatch.dispatch)

• due to prior compile, load dispatch.dispatch__init is loaded via the appclassloader
• ->T constructor will use new bytecode to instantiate a T instance - this uses appclassloader, loaded from compiled T on disk
• however, T class literals are resolved with RT.classForName, which checks the dynamic classloader cache, so uses old runtime version of T, instead of on-disk version

In 1.6, RT.classForName() did not check dynamic classloader cache, so loaded T from disk as with instances. This was changed in CLJ-979 to support other redefinition and AOT mixing usages.

Approaches:

1) Compile in reverse dependency order to avoid compiling twice.

Either swap the order of compilation in the first example or specify the order in project.clj:

:aot [dispatch.dispatch dispatch.core]

This is a short-term workaround.

2) Move the deftype into a separate namespace from where it is used so it is not redefined on the second compile. This is another short-term workaround.

3) Do not put compile-path on the classpath (this violates current expectations, but avoids loading dispatch__init)

(set! *compile-path* "foo")
(compile 'dispatch.core)
(compile 'dispatch.dispatch)

This is not easy to set up via Leiningen currently.

4) Compile each file with an independent Clojure runtime - avoids using cached classes in DCL for class literals.

Probably too annoying to actually do right now in Leiningen or otherwise.

5) Make compilation non-transitive. This is in the ballpark of CLJ-322, which is another can of worms. Also possibly where we should be headed though.

Screening: I do not believe the proposed patch is a good idea - it papers over the symptom without addressing the root cause. I think we need to re-evaluate how compilation works with regard to compile-path (#3) and transitivity (CLJ-322) (#5), but I think we should do this after 1.7. - Alex

See also: CLJ-1650

1. 

   0001-CLJ-1714-Don-t-load-AOT-class-when-compiling-already.patch

   01/Jun/15 10:55 AM

   3 kB

   Nicola Mometto

• Assignee:

  Unassigned

  Reporter:

  Stephen Nelson

• Created:

  30/May/15 8:38 PM

  Updated:

  08/Oct/18 11:00 AM