Subject: checkout-index: unable to create file foo (File exists)

From: "Brian J. Murrell" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:25:18 -0400

When we use git on a network filesystem, occasionally and sporadically
we will see the following from a git checkout command:

error: git checkout-index: unable to create file foo (File exists)

Through a very basic grepping and following of the source it seems that
the core of the error message is coming from write_entry() in entry.c:

		fd = open_output_fd(path, ce, to_tempfile);
		if (fd < 0) {
			free(new);
			return error("unable to create file %s (%s)",
				path, strerror(errno));
		}

So looking into open_output_fd() there is a call to create_file() which
does:

	return open(path, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL, mode);

I am able to prevent the problem from happening with 100% success by
simply giving the git checkout a "-q" argument to prevent it from
emitting progress reports.  This would seem to indicate that the problem
likely revolves around the fact that the progress reporting uses SIGALRM.

Given that O_CREAT | O_EXCL are used in the open() call and that SIGALRM
(along with SA_RESTART) is being used frequently to do progress updates,
it seems reasonable to suspect that the problem is that open() is being
interrupted (but only after it creates the file and before completing)
by the progress reporting mechanism's SIGALRM and when the progress
reporting is done, open() is restarted automatically (due to the use of
SA_RESTART) and fails because the file exists and O_CREAT | O_EXCL are
used in the open() call.

Does this seem like a reasonable hypothesis?

If it does, where does the problem lie here?  Is it that SA_RESTART
should not be used since it's not safe with open() and O_CREAT | O_EXCL
(and every system call caller should be handling EINTR) or should the
open() be idempotent so that it can be restarted automatically with
SA_RESTART?  If open(2) is supposed to be idempotent, it would be most
useful to have a citation to standard where that is specified.

If open() is not required to be idempotent, it's use with O_CREAT |
O_EXCL and SA_RESTART seems fatally flawed.

Any insight or opinions would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
b.