[Mono-devel-list] HasShutdownStarted race?

[Michi Henning]

> > > Finalizers are run by one thread, so once you are in one, no new
objets
> > > will get finalized behind your back.
> > >
> > > However, I'm not sure if the spec promises that at all.
> >
> > No, no such promise in the spec. In fact, some MS people are talking
> > about using more than one GC thread in future releases, and that
> > would be perfectly compliant with the spec.
>
> Are they talking about a parallel gc (I think they already have one of
> those) or parallel finalization?

The are talking about parallel finalization.
See http://blogs.msdn.com/cbrumme/archive/2004/02/20/77460.aspx
near the beginning, points 5-8 and the para that follows.

> Anyways, if they change this, you wouldn't be the only one affected. If
> you need more info,  best to ask them.

I don't like my chances... At any rate, it seems that the guarantees for
HasShutdownStarted will eventually need to be tightened, so the
condition cannot change during the execution of a finalizer.

Cheers,

Michi.