This adds a new accessor-function for the file-locking operations
through `fcntl(2)`. In particular, it adds the new function
`fcntl_flock()`, which wraps the `F_OFD_SETLK` command on `fcntl(2)`.
There were a few design considerations:
* The name `fcntl_flock` comes from the `struct flock` structure that
is the argument type of all file-locking syscalls. Furthermore, it
mirrors what the `fcntl` module already provides as a wrapper for
the classic file-locking syscall.
* The wrapper only exposes very limited access to the file-locking
commands. There already is `fcntl.fcntl()` and `fcntl.fcntl_flock()`
in the standard library, which expose the classic file-locks.
However, those are implemented in C, which gives much more freedom
and access to architecture dependent types and functions.
We do not have that freedom (see the in-code comments for the
things to consider when exposing more fcntl-locking features).
Hence, this only exposes a very limited set of functionality,
exactly the parts we need in the objectstore rework.
* We cannot use `fcntl.fcntl_flock()` from the standard library,
because we really want the `OFD` version. OFD stands for
`open-file-description`. These locks were introduced in 2014 to the
linux kernel and mirror what the non-OFD locks do, but bind the
locks to the file-description, rather than to a process. Therefore,
closing a file-description will release all held locks on that
file-description.
This is so much more convenient to work with, and much less
error-prone than the old-style locks. Hence, we really want these,
even if it means that we have to introduce this new helper.
* There is an open bug to add this to the python standard library:
https://bugs.python.org/issue22367
This is unresolved since 2014.
The implementation of the `fcntl_flock()` helper is straighforward and
should be easy to understand. However, the reasoning behind the design
decisions are not. Hence, the code contains a rather elaborate comment
explaining why it is done this way.
Lastly, this adds a small, but I think sufficient unit-test suite which
makes sure the API works as expected. It does not test for full
functionality of the underlying locking features, but that is not the
job of a wrapping layer, I think. But more tests can always be added.
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