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Destroy std::mutex referenced but not owned by std::unique_lock?

+10
−0

Is it correct to destroy a mutex which is referenced but not owned by an unique_lock as in this code?

{
  std::unique_ptr<std::mutex> mutex = std::make_unique<std::mutex>();
  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(*mutex);
  lock.unlock();
  mutex.reset();
} // Here lock is destroyed while holding an invalid reference to *mutex
  // but not having a lock on any mutex at all.

The example is somewhat convoluted and for this simple case it would be easier to not lock.unlock();mutex.reset() and let the destructors do their work. But there are other situations where being able to do this might come handy.

It can be read in std::unique_lock::~unique_lock that :

Destroys the lock. If *this has an associated mutex and has acquired ownership of it, the mutex is unlocked.

Which leads me to believe that if the unique_lock no longer has ownership of the mutex the mutex is not unlocked so the no longer valid reference the mutex is not used in the destructor.

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1 answer

+8
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No, such an operation is not safe. The documentation of std::unique_lock in the standard states that it's UB for the mutex do be destroyed while the lock still has a pointer to it.

However, there is a way to dissociate the mutex from the lock: calling release on the lock. That resets the lock's internal mutex pointer to null. So the code would be valid like this:

{
  std::unique_ptr<std::mutex> mutex = std::make_unique<std::mutex>();
  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock(*mutex);
  lock.unlock();
  lock.release();
  mutex.reset();
}

Here are the relevant standard quotes from C++2a (N4680) 32.5.4.3. [thread.lock.unique] (pm is an exposition-only pointer to the mutex associated with the lock):

32.5.4.3/1 The behavior of a program is undefined if the contained pointer pm is not null and the lockable object pointed to by pm does not exist for the entire remaining lifetime (6.7.3) of the unique_lock object.

32.5.4.3.3

mutex_type* release() noexcept;

2 Returns: The previous value of pm.

3 Postconditions: pm == 0 and owns == false.

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