最初接触golang http源码的时候就发现有一个比较特别的package context，当时顺便把它的源码给看了下，了解下它的工作原理，并且在后面学习etcd源码的时候发现几乎每一个回调相关的函数都会有一个ctx参数。今天终于闲下来了，对于context这么常用的package还是做下笔记为好。
context包在golang源码的golang.org/x/net/context目录下，context主要用在结束若干个相互具有父子(主任务子任务)关系的goroutine，context内部本身就是以一种树形递归的形式去组织各个context节点，父节点的取消，会递归的把取消信号发送给它的子节点。
Context接口的定义如下：
type Context interface {
// Deadline returns the time when work done on behalf of this context
// should be canceled. Deadline returns ok==false when no deadline is
// set. Successive calls to Deadline return the same results.
Deadline() (deadline time.Time, ok bool)
// Done returns a channel that's closed when work done on behalf of this
// context should be canceled. Done may return nil if this context can
// never be canceled. Successive calls to Done return the same value.
//
// WithCancel arranges for Done to be closed when cancel is called;
// WithDeadline arranges for Done to be closed when the deadline
// expires; WithTimeout arranges for Done to be closed when the timeout
// elapses.
Done() <-chan struct{}
// Err returns a non-nil error value after Done is closed. Err returns
// Canceled if the context was canceled or DeadlineExceeded if the
// context's deadline passed. No other values for Err are defined.
// After Done is closed, successive calls to Err return the same value.
Err() error
// Value returns the value associated with this context for key, or nil
// if no value is associated with key. Successive calls to Value with
// the same key returns the same result.
Value(key interface{}) interface{}
}Deadline：主要用于设定超时时间的Context上，它的返回值用于表示该Context取消的时间点。
Done：函数主要是返回一个单向的接收channel，在Context被取消之后该接收channel会返回一个值或者被关闭，都会执行select中对应的语句，这些语句一般是结束当前函数执行，并做一些清理工作。
Err：返回该Conext被取消的原因。
Value：返回该Context中key关联的值。
由于Context是基于父子类关系的属性结构组织的，无论我们是自己定义的Context还是使用golib提供的Context类，我们都会基于一个父Context，实际开发中我们使用的这个父Context大多数情况下是Background函数返回的Context:
// Background returns a non-nil, empty Context. It is never canceled, has no
// values, and has no deadline. It is typically used by the main function,
// initialization, and tests, and as the top-level Context for incoming
// requests.
func Background() Context {
return background
}Background函数返回的Context是一个空的context，没有deadline，不可以取消，并且没有值，它的定义如下：
// An emptyCtx is never canceled, has no values, and has no deadline. It is not
// struct{}, since vars of this type must have distinct addresses.
type emptyCtx int
func (*emptyCtx) Deadline() (deadline time.Time, ok bool) {
return
}
func (*emptyCtx) Done() <-chan struct{} {
return nil
}
func (*emptyCtx) Err() error {
return nil
}
func (*emptyCtx) Value(key interface{}) interface{} {
return nil
}
func (e *emptyCtx) String() string {
switch e {
case background:
return "context.Background"
case todo:
return "context.TODO"
}
return "unknown empty Context"
}
var (
background = new(emptyCtx)
todo = new(emptyCtx)
) 除了Background返回的一个类似与超级父类的一个Context，帮助我们自定义以及创建自己的Context，但是golang提供的cancelCtx以及timerCtx已经能够满足我们大多数需求了，golang提供了响应的函数专门用来创建这两个Context。
cancelCtx比较核心的是cancel函数，它在取消当前Context的同时，也递归的取消以它作为祖先节点的所有Context节点。另外一个函数是propagateCancel，它主要是防止用来创建当前cancalCtx节点的parent没有递归的调用子节点的cancel，因为cancel并不是Context实现的标准方法，parent很可能就不知道子节点怎样取消，cancalCtx中cancel也是建立在canceler的接口之上实现的。cancelCtx的实现：
// A canceler is a context type that can be canceled directly. The
// implementations are *cancelCtx and *timerCtx.
type canceler interface {
cancel(removeFromParent bool, err error)
Done() <-chan struct{}
}
// A cancelCtx can be canceled. When canceled, it also cancels any children
// that implement canceler.
type cancelCtx struct {
Context
done chan struct{} // closed by the first cancel call.
mu sync.Mutex
children map[canceler]bool // set to nil by the first cancel call
err error // set to non-nil by the first cancel call
}
// newCancelCtx returns an initialized cancelCtx.
func newCancelCtx(parent Context) *cancelCtx {
return &cancelCtx{
Context: parent,
done: make(chan struct{}),
}
}
// propagateCancel arranges for child to be canceled when parent is.
func propagateCancel(parent Context, child canceler) {
if parent.Done() == nil {
return // parent is never canceled
}
if p, ok := parentCancelCtx(parent); ok {
p.mu.Lock()
if p.err != nil {
// parent has already been canceled
child.cancel(false, p.err)
} else {
if p.children == nil {
p.children = make(map[canceler]bool)
}
p.children[child] = true
}
p.mu.Unlock()
} else {
go func() {
select {
// 保证父节点被取消的时候子节点会被取消
case <-parent.Done():
child.cancel(false, parent.Err())
case <-child.Done():
}
}()
}
}
func (c *cancelCtx) Done() <-chan struct{} {
return c.done
}
func (c *cancelCtx) Err() error {
c.mu.Lock()
defer c.mu.Unlock()
return c.err
}
func (c *cancelCtx) String() string {
return fmt.Sprintf("%v.WithCancel", c.Context)
}
// cancel closes c.done, cancels each of c's children, and, if
// removeFromParent is true, removes c from its parent's children.
func (c *cancelCtx) cancel(removeFromParent bool, err error) {
if err == nil {
panic("context: internal error: missing cancel error")
}
c.mu.Lock()
if c.err != nil {
c.mu.Unlock()
return // already canceled
}
c.err = err
// 通过关闭done channel来达到通知select的
close(c.done)
// 循环遍历children节点，递归的取消children Context
for child := range c.children {
// NOTE: acquiring the child's lock while holding parent's lock.
child.cancel(false, err)
}
c.children = nil
c.mu.Unlock()
if removeFromParent {
removeChild(c.Context, c)
}
}cancelCtx的创建：
// WithCancel returns a copy of parent with a new Done channel. The returned
// context's Done channel is closed when the returned cancel function is called
// or when the parent context's Done channel is closed, whichever happens first.
//
// Canceling this context releases resources associated with it, so code should
// call cancel as soon as the operations running in this Context complete.
func WithCancel(parent Context) (ctx Context, cancel CancelFunc) {
c := newCancelCtx(parent)
propagateCancel(parent, c)
return c, func() { c.cancel(true, Canceled) }
}
timerCtx继承了canceler接口，并重写了cancel方法，并增加了一个定时器timer以及一个绝对时间确定的deadline，通过把对当前timerCtx的取消操作添加到系统定时器内，并在cancel调用cancelCtx.cancel来达到递归取消子Context节点的目的，timerCtx的实现：
// A timerCtx carries a timer and a deadline. It embeds a cancelCtx to
// implement Done and Err. It implements cancel by stopping its timer then
// delegating to cancelCtx.cancel.
type timerCtx struct {
*cancelCtx
timer *time.Timer // Under cancelCtx.mu.
deadline time.Time
}
func (c *timerCtx) Deadline() (deadline time.Time, ok bool) {
return c.deadline, true
}
func (c *timerCtx) String() string {
return fmt.Sprintf("%v.WithDeadline(%s [%s])", c.cancelCtx.Context, c.deadline, c.deadline.Sub(time.Now()))
}
func (c *timerCtx) cancel(removeFromParent bool, err error) {
c.cancelCtx.cancel(false, err)
if removeFromParent {
// Remove this timerCtx from its parent cancelCtx's children.
removeChild(c.cancelCtx.Context, c)
}
c.mu.Lock()
if c.timer != nil {
c.timer.Stop()
c.timer = nil
}
c.mu.Unlock()
}
timerCtx的创建:
// WithDeadline returns a copy of the parent context with the deadline adjusted
// to be no later than d. If the parent's deadline is already earlier than d,
// WithDeadline(parent, d) is semantically equivalent to parent. The returned
// context's Done channel is closed when the deadline expires, when the returned
// cancel function is called, or when the parent context's Done channel is
// closed, whichever happens first.
//
// Canceling this context releases resources associated with it, so code should
// call cancel as soon as the operations running in this Context complete.
func WithDeadline(parent Context, deadline time.Time) (Context, CancelFunc) {
if cur, ok := parent.Deadline(); ok && cur.Before(deadline) {
// The current deadline is already sooner than the new one.
return WithCancel(parent)
}
c := &timerCtx{
cancelCtx: newCancelCtx(parent),
deadline: deadline,
}
propagateCancel(parent, c)
d := deadline.Sub(time.Now())
if d <= 0 {
c.cancel(true, DeadlineExceeded) // deadline has already passed
return c, func() { c.cancel(true, Canceled) }
}
c.mu.Lock()
defer c.mu.Unlock()
if c.err == nil {
c.timer = time.AfterFunc(d, func() {
c.cancel(true, DeadlineExceeded)
})
}
return c, func() { c.cancel(true, Canceled) }
}
// WithTimeout returns WithDeadline(parent, time.Now().Add(timeout)).
//
// Canceling this context releases resources associated with it, so code should
// call cancel as soon as the operations running in this Context complete:
//
// func slowOperationWithTimeout(ctx context.Context) (Result, error) {
// ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 100*time.Millisecond)
// defer cancel() // releases resources if slowOperation completes before timeout elapses
// return slowOperation(ctx)
// }
func WithTimeout(parent Context, timeout time.Duration) (Context, CancelFunc) {
return WithDeadline(parent, time.Now().Add(timeout))
}另外，WithCancel、WithDeadline以及WithTimeout都返回了一个Context以及一个CancelFunc函数，返回的Context也就是我们当前基于parent创建了cancelCtx或则timerCtx，通过CancelFunc我们可以取消当前Context，即使timerCtx还未超时。