JuliaLang / JuliaLang/Distributed.jl

[Distributed.jl] inconsistent serialization of closures over global vars

Open
#90 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Dominant language
Julia
Stars
55
Forks
19
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

here's my MWE (tested on 1.9.2):

using Distributed, Serialization
y = 3
f = x -> x + y

worker = only(addprocs(1))
@everywhere worker using Serialization

fs = let
    io = IOBuffer()
    serialize(io, f)
    take!(io)
end;

# error: UndefVarError: `y` not defined
remotecall_fetch(worker, fs, 2) do fs, x
    f = deserialize(IOBuffer(fs))
    invokelatest(f, x)
end

# succeeds
remotecall_fetch(f, worker, 2)

# now succeeds
remotecall_fetch(worker, fs, 2) do fs, x
    f = deserialize(IOBuffer(fs))
    invokelatest(f, x)
end

I understand why the first invocation of my manually-deserialized function doesn't work: y is non-const in global scope and is not captured by f; it works as I'd hoped if I do

f = let
    y = 3
    x -> x + y
end

what's troubling me is that somehow when you remotecall f itself, y gets defined as a global on the worker, so that the second time I deserialize and invoke f on teh remote worker, it succeeds.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

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.

Research direction

Start by running the supplied Julia 1.9.2 MWE and compare the serialize/deserialize path with direct remotecall of the closure. Trace the Distributed closure-transfer and Serialization entry points involved in both calls. Done means the differing global-variable behavior is explained and the two paths behave consistently or the intended distinction is documented.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
julia
Domain
distributed-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.