Race condition or not? delegates and multiple threads

Question

I am puzzled at how multi-threading can work with delegates.

The main thread has an object "A" that created the object "B". Object "A" is the delegate for object "B". Object B uses a thread to run code.

When object "B" wants to notify the delegate, it:

[[self delegate] performSelectorOnMainThread:@selector(didFinish:) withObject:self waitUntilDone:[NSThread isMainThread]];

The delegate property is the destination, atomic @property. Therefore, it seems that the generated getter will perform [[delegate saving] autorelease], according to goal c of the manual .

The dealloc method for "A":

- (void)dealloc
{
    [b setDelegate:nil];
    [b release];
    [super dealloc];
}

This can lead to a possible situation where threads are executed as follows:

• Main thread: call [A dealloc] (due to calling [release])
• : b [A ] (- [self delegate])
• : calls [b setDelegate: nil]
• : SelectorOnMainThread

2 , , dealloc - ? , , ? ?

, ?

( , /, , setDelegate .)

, .

, , setDelegate: multipe, .

Answer 1

, dealloc retain/release. dealloc dealloc sleep() (- , sleep() ? , , ). / A B , , , , sleep().

, , :

-(void)septhreadRetainDel
{
    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"[thread#2] sleep(1.f);");
    sleep(1.f);
    NSLog(@"[thread#2] [b retainDelegate];");
    [b retainDelegate];
    NSLog(@"[thread#2] sleep(2.f);");
    sleep(2.f);
    NSLog(@"[thread#2] [b release];");
    [b release];
    [pool release];
}

- (void)viewDidLoad {
    NSLog(@"-(void)viewDidLoad:");
    [super viewDidLoad];
    NSLog(@"a = [[A alloc] init];");
    a = [[A alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"[a autorelease];");
    [a autorelease];
    NSLog(@"b = [[B alloc] init];");
    b = [[B alloc] init];
    NSLog(@"b.delegate = a;");
    b.delegate = a;
    NSLog(@"[NSThread detachNewThreadSelector:@selector(septhreadRetainDel) toTarget:self withObject:nil];");
    [NSThread detachNewThreadSelector:@selector(septhreadRetainDel) toTarget:self withObject:nil];
}

A:

#import "A.h"

@implementation A

-(void)dealloc
{
    NSLog(@"A: dealloc; zzz for 2s");
    sleep(2.f);
    NSLog(@"A: dealloc; waking up in time for my demise!");
    [super dealloc];
}
-(id)retain
{
    NSLog(@"A retain (%d++>%d)", self.retainCount, self.retainCount+1);
    return [super retain];
}
-(void)release
{
    NSLog(@"A release (%d-->%d)", self.retainCount, self.retainCount-1);
    [super release];
}

@end

B (.h):

#import "A.h"

@interface B : NSObject {
    A *delegate;
}

-(void) retainDelegate;

@property (nonatomic, assign) A *delegate;

@end

B (.m):

#import "B.h"

@implementation B

@synthesize delegate;

-(void)retainDelegate
{
    NSLog(@"B:: -(void)retainDelegate (delegate currently has %d retain count):", delegate.retainCount);
    NSLog(@"B:: [delegate retain];");
    [delegate retain];
}
-(void)releaseDelegate
{
    NSLog(@"B releases delegate");
    [delegate release];
    delegate = nil;
}

-(void)dealloc
{
    NSLog(@"B dealloc; closing shop");
    [self releaseDelegate];
    [super dealloc];
}

-(id)retain
{
    NSLog(@"B retain (%d++>%d)", self.retainCount, self.retainCount+1);
    return [super retain];
}
-(void)release
{
    NSLog(@"B release (%d-->%d)", self.retainCount, self.retainCount-1);
    [super release];    
}

@end

EXC_BAD_ACCESS B releaseDelegate. NSLogs:

2010-07-10 11:49:27.044 race[832:207] -(void)viewDidLoad:
2010-07-10 11:49:27.050 race[832:207] a = [[A alloc] init];
2010-07-10 11:49:27.053 race[832:207] [a autorelease];
2010-07-10 11:49:27.056 race[832:207] b = [[B alloc] init];
2010-07-10 11:49:27.058 race[832:207] b.delegate = a;
2010-07-10 11:49:27.061 race[832:207] [NSThread detachNewThreadSelector:@selector(septhreadRetainDel) toTarget:self withObject:nil];
2010-07-10 11:49:27.064 race[832:4703] [thread#2] sleep(1.f);
2010-07-10 11:49:27.082 race[832:207] A release (1-->0)
2010-07-10 11:49:27.089 race[832:207] A: dealloc; zzz for 2s
2010-07-10 11:49:28.066 race[832:4703] [thread#2] [b retainDelegate];
2010-07-10 11:49:28.072 race[832:4703] B:: -(void)retainDelegate (delegate currently has 1 retain count):
2010-07-10 11:49:28.076 race[832:4703] B:: [delegate retain];
2010-07-10 11:49:28.079 race[832:4703] A retain (1++>2)
2010-07-10 11:49:28.081 race[832:4703] [thread#2] sleep(2.f);
2010-07-10 11:49:29.092 race[832:207] A: dealloc; waking up in time for my demise!
2010-07-10 11:49:30.084 race[832:4703] [thread#2] [b release];
2010-07-10 11:49:30.089 race[832:4703] B release (1-->0)
2010-07-10 11:49:30.094 race[832:4703] B dealloc; closing shop
2010-07-10 11:49:30.097 race[832:4703] B releases delegate
Program received signal:  "EXC_BAD_ACCESS".

-dealloc . (, , , , , self retainCount [super dealloc], ... ). , -dealloc A, delegate B releaseDelegate nil, , , delegate B releaseDelegate.

, , , , sleep() , , dealloc retain.

Answer 2

, - , : , -dealloc , -retain -release, , . dealloc, , , , , , , dealloc. ( , dealloc)

B [self delegate] A, , , dealloc release, - [A dealloc], - [], - [A dealloc], .

, - [A ] - [A release], : A - [] , B A.

, . , - [A dealloc] B ( , ) . , , A B, A, //dealloc, , , .

, , , , , . , ( , , ) - , , , .