ROBUSTNESS: Write RDS files atomically
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- Dominant language
- R
- Stars
- 184
- Forks
- 53
- Avg merge
- 7d 2h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 1
Description
Issue
When writing an RDS file, it might fail half way through, resulting in an incomplete, corrupt file. Similarly, if one process attempts to read a file that is currently being written by another process, the read might occur on an incomplete file.
Suggestion
Always write RDS file atomically. This can be achieved by writing to *.rds.tmp and then rename the file to *.rds after saveRDS() completes. This way the target *.rds is guaranteed to be complete.
By writing to *.rds.tmp instead of tempfile() guarantees that we write to the same drive, avoiding cross-drive moves and copies.
Patch
See PR #316 for a patch. I updated writeRDS() to write atomically and I've added wait = 300, which can optionally be set to wait = 0. The latter is used to replace two remaining saveRDS() uses.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with the writeRDS() implementation and locate the two remaining saveRDS() uses mentioned in the issue. Review PR #316 to understand the proposed scope and check that all RDS writes avoid exposing incomplete target files; completion means the affected writes follow the issue’s atomicity requirement.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- r
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100