I agree with Juan & Vanessa that the backing up (eg rename image file to foo.image.bak) be done by the image, not by the snapshot primitive. There’s another thing the image should do also.

Currently the snapshot primitive does a full GC. This is somewhat of a good thing because it means that new space is always empty in a squeak snapshot and so loading is simpler. But full GCs signal objects for finalization, and this means that finalizations are done way too late, in the loading system, long after any associated state (open files et al), are up to date.

Instead, while the primitive should still GC to keep new space empty, the image should run a full GC before invoking the primitive, and not noble the primitive until finalization is complete. This ensures that

objects are not finalized twice, once in continuing from the snapshot, and once on loading/restarting the snapshot.
objects don’t get finalized, by the finalization state not being saved proper in the image (eg on save and quit)

—
Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.
You are receiving this because you commented.