Packages

crystoline/xpsr-lock

Locks for XPSR applications, on Symfony Lock. A lock lets one process at a time do a piece of work, across processes and servers. Examples: capturing a payment, sending the nightly report, or refreshing a shared access token.

composer require crystoline/xpsr-lock

Add the provider to app.registry in config/app.php:

Crystoline\Xpsr\Lock\LockServiceRegistry::class,

One server can use the default store, files in var/locks. For several servers, create config/lock.php:

return [
    // flock (files in var/locks, one server), redis://redis:6379 (one Redis server),
    // redlock (the servers below), database (the application's database), or a Symfony Lock DSN.
    'store' => env('LOCK_STORE', 'flock'),
    // For redlock: three or more independent Redis servers. A lock needs more than half of them.
    'redlock' => array_values(array_filter(array_map('trim', explode(',', (string) env('LOCK_REDLOCK', ''))))),
    'database' => ['connection' => null, 'table' => 'lock_keys'],
    'prefix' => 'app',          // in front of every key, so applications can share a store
    'ttl' => '5 minutes',       // how long a lock lasts unless it is refreshed
];

Taking a lock

use Crystoline\Xpsr\Lock\Locks;

$receipt = $locks->run("payment:{$payment->id}", fn() => $gateway->capture($payment), ttl: '30 seconds', wait: '5 seconds');

run() takes the lock, runs the callback, returns its result, and releases the lock, also when the callback throws. If another process holds the lock, run() waits up to wait for it. The default wait is 0, which tries once. Then it throws Crystoline\Xpsr\Lock\LockNotAcquiredException, whose key names the lock. ttl is how long the lock lasts if it is not released, for example because the process died. It is given in seconds or as a period, and defaults to lock.ttl.

For work that may take longer than the ttl, the callback receives the lock and can extend it:

use Symfony\Component\Lock\LockInterface;

$locks->run('import:products', function (LockInterface $lock) use ($rows): void {
    foreach (array_chunk($rows, 500) as $chunk) {
        $this->import($chunk);
        $lock->refresh();       // another ttl from now
    }
}, ttl: '1 minute');

lock() returns the Symfony lock, for full control:

$lock = $locks->lock('reports:nightly', ttl: '1 hour');
if (!$lock->acquire()) {
    return;                     // another server is sending it
}
try {
    $reports->sendNightly();
} finally {
    $lock->release();
}

Symfony\Component\Lock\LockFactory is also a service, with the same store and without the prefix.

Releasing a lock in another process

One process can take a lock and another release it, for example a web request that starts work a worker finishes. Take the lock through its key, then send the key to the other process: once the lock is acquired, the key holds the store's token for it.

$key = $locks->key("export:{$user->id}");
if ($locks->fromKey($key, ttl: '10 minutes', autoRelease: false)->acquire()) {
    $outbox->send(serialize($key));
}

// In the other process:
use Symfony\Component\Lock\Key;

$locks->fromKey(unserialize($message, ['allowed_classes' => [Key::class]]))->release();

Keys serialize with the Redis, Redlock, and database stores. With flock, whose locks belong to the process that took them, serialize() throws Symfony\Component\Lock\Exception\UnserializableKeyException. Pass autoRelease: false in the first process, or the lock is released when the lock object is destroyed.

Stores

Redlock

Redlock takes the lock on several independent Redis servers, which are not replicas of one another. The lock is held when more than half of the servers agreed within its time to live. One server of three, or two of five, can be down. Use an odd number of servers, each with its own DSN:

LOCK_STORE=redlock
LOCK_REDLOCK=redis://redis-1:6379,redis://redis-2:6379,redis://redis-3:6379

Symfony Lock's CombinedStore with ConsensusStrategy does the work. Each lock gets a random token, only its holder can extend or release it, and a server that fails or does not answer counts as a refusal.

Database

php xpsr make:lock-table
php xpsr migrate

The store uses a database connection of its own, so locks stay out of the application's transactions. A lock taken inside a transaction is visible to other processes at once, and rolling the transaction back does not undo it. Use MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL. With SQLite, a transaction that has written blocks the store's connection until the transaction ends, and one server is better served by flock anyway.

What a lock guarantees

A lock keeps two processes from doing the same work at the same time. It cannot guarantee that work happens exactly once, whichever store is used, Redlock included:

• Its holder can stall past the time to live, for example on a slow network call or a long pause. Another process then takes the lock, and both run.
• Redis keeps locks in memory, so a server that restarts forgets the locks it held.

For payments and other work that must happen once, the lock avoids duplicate work and the database makes a second run harmless:

use Doctrine\DBAL\Connection;

$locks->run("payment:{$id}", function () use ($db, $gateway, $id): void {
    $db->transactional(function (Connection $db) use ($gateway, $id): void {
        $payment = $db->fetchAssociative('SELECT * FROM payments WHERE id = ? FOR UPDATE', [$id]);
        if ($payment['status'] !== 'pending') {
            return;             // another run captured it
        }
        // The idempotency key makes the gateway answer a repeated request instead of charging twice.
        $gateway->capture($payment['amount'], idempotencyKey: $payment['idempotency_key']);
        $db->update('payments', ['status' => 'captured'], ['id' => $id]);
    });
}, ttl: '30 seconds', wait: '5 seconds');

Other packages

withoutOverlapping() in crystoline/xpsr-scheduler uses these locks when LockServiceRegistry is in app.registry and scheduler.lock is not set.

Rate limits in crystoline/xpsr-cache use them whenever LockServiceRegistry is in app.registry, to update each count under a lock that lasts 5 seconds at most. Without this package, they lock with files in var/locks.

#[Unique] jobs in crystoline/xpsr-queue need these locks, on the Redis, Redlock, or database store: the process that dispatches a job takes its lock, and the worker releases it.

Services

Testing

Set 'store' => 'in-memory' in config/testing/lock.php, so tests leave no files in var/locks. To test code that must give up when another process holds a lock, take the lock first:

$held = $this->application()->get(Locks::class)->lock('reports:nightly');
$held->acquire();