Question

The function runtime.SetFinalizer(x, f interface{}) sets the finalizer associated with x to f.

What kind of objects are finalized by default?

What are some of the unintended pitfalls caused by having those objects finalized by default?

Answer 1

The following objects are finalized by default:

• os.File: The file is automatically closed when the object is garbage collected.

• os.Process: Finalization will release any resources associated with the process. On Unix, this is a no-operation. On Windows, it closes the handle associated with the process.

• On Windows, it appears that package net can automatically close a network connection.

The Go standard library is not setting a finalizer on object kinds other than the ones mentioned above.

There seems to be only one potential issue that may cause problems in actual programs: When an os.File is finalized, it will make a call to the OS to close the file descriptor. In case the os.File has been created by calling function os.NewFile(fd int, name string) *File and the file descriptor is also used by another (different) os.File, then garbage collecting either one of the file objects will render the other file object unusable. For example:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "runtime"
)

func open() {
    os.NewFile(1, "stdout")
}

func main() {
    open()

    // Force finalization of unreachable objects
    _ = make([]byte, 1e7)
    runtime.GC()

    _, err := fmt.Println("some text") // Print something via os.Stdout
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "could not print the text")
    }
}

prints:

could not print the text