fix for statemachine where operations would unintentionally block if the lock was acquired in a long-running transition

tests/test_statemachine.py

@@ -256,6 +256,73 @@ class testStateMachine(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertTrue( s['three'] )
 
 
+	def testTransitionsDontUnintentionallyBlock(self):
+		'''
+		There was a bug where a long-running transition (e.g. one with a 'func'
+		arg or a `transition_ctx` call would cause any `transition` or `ensure`
+		call to block since the lock is acquired before checking the current
+		state.  Attempts to acquire the mutex need to be non-blocking so when a
+		timeout is _not_ given, the caller can return immediately.  At the same
+		time, threads that _do_ want to wait need the ability to be notified
+		(to avoid waiting beyond when the lock is released) so we've moved to a 
+		combination of a plain-ol `threading.Lock` to act as mutex, and a 
+		`threading.Event` to perform notification for threads who choose to wait.
+		'''
+
+		s = sm.StateMachine(('one','two','three'))
+
+		with s.transition_ctx('two','three') as result:
+			self.failIf( result )
+			self.assertTrue( s['one'] )
+			self.failIf( s.current_state in ('two','three') )
+
+		self.assertTrue( s['one'] )
+		
+		statuses = {'t1':"not started",
+					't2':'not started'}
+
+		def t1():
+			print 'thread 1 started'
+			# no wait, so this should 'return False' immediately.
+			self.failIf( s.transition('two','three') )
+			statuses['t1'] = 'complete'
+			print 'thread 1 transitioned'
+
+		def t2():
+			print 'thread 2 started'
+			self.failIf( s['two'] )
+			self.failIf( s['three'] )
+			# we want this thread to acquire the lock, but for 
+			# the second thread not to wait on the first.
+			with s.transition_ctx('one','two', 10) as locked:
+				statuses['t2'] = 'started'
+				print 'thread 2 has entered context'
+				self.assertTrue( locked )
+				# give thread1 a chance to complete while this 
+				# thread still owns the lock
+				time.sleep(5) 
+			self.assertTrue( s['two'] )
+			statuses['t2'] = 'complete'
+
+		t1 = threading.Thread(target=t1)
+		t2 = threading.Thread(target=t2)
+
+		t2.start() # this should acquire the lock
+		time.sleep(.2)
+		self.assertEqual( 'started', statuses['t2'] )
+		t1.start() # but it shouldn't prevent thread 1 from completing
+		time.sleep(1)
+
+		self.assertEqual( 'complete', statuses['t1'] )
+
+		t1.join()
+		t2.join()
+
+		self.assertEqual( 'complete', statuses['t2'] )
+
+		self.assertTrue( s['two'] )
+
+
 suite = unittest.TestLoader().loadTestsFromTestCase(testStateMachine)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__': unittest.main()