dimensionalOS / dimensionalOS/dimos

SHM create race: attachers mmap a size-0 segment ("cannot mmap an empty file")

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Python
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Description

Symptom: consumers crash attaching to a SHM segment with ValueError: cannot mmap an empty file (seen on real runs, July sprint).

Race: stdlib SharedMemory(create=True, size=N) does shm_open then ftruncate. An attacher that opens in that window sees size 0 and mmaps nothing. _open_shm_with_retry (ipc_factory.py:49) only catches FileNotFoundError, so it never covered this. Affected paths are the name-derived symmetric ones: _create_or_open (:145) attach arm, plus direct SharedMemory(create=True, ...) sites (~:174).

Fix: explicit readiness, readers now wait until the segment actually has a size, with a 10s cap and a clear error if it never shows up. No sleep ladder, no blind retries.

Blast radius: shared transport infra — all robots, sim modules, cameras, every SHM pubsub user.

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Research direction

Start in dimos/protocol/pubsub/shm/ipc_factory.py at _open_shm_with_retry and _create_or_open, then inspect the direct SharedMemory(create=True, ...) sites around line 174. Verify that attachers wait for a nonzero segment size with a 10-second cap and produce a clear error if readiness never appears, without blind retries or a sleep ladder.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
distributed-systems, infrastructure
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
62/100

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