This deadlock occurs when a client issues a HANDLER ... OPEN statement
that tries to open a table that has a pending name-lock on it by another
client that also needs a name-lock on some other table which is already
open and associated to a HANDLER instance owned by the first client.
The deadlock happens because the open_table() function will back-off
and wait until the name-lock goes away, causing a circular wait if some
other name-lock is also pending for one of the open HANDLER tables.
Such situation, for example, can be easily repeated by issuing a RENAME
TABLE command in such a way that the existing table is already open
as a HANDLER table by another client and this client tries to open
a HANDLER to the new table name.
The solution is to allow handler tables with older versions (marked for
flush) to be closed before waiting for the name-lock completion. This is
safe because no other name-lock can be issued between the flush and the
check for pending name-locks.
The test case for this bug is going to be committed into 5.1 because it
requires a test feature only avaiable in 5.1 (wait_condition).
sql/sql_base.cc:
Improve comments in the open_table() function, stating the importance
of the handler tables flushing for the back-off process.
sql/sql_handler.cc:
Allows handler tables flushes when opening new tables in order to avoid
potential deadlocks. Add comments explaining the importance of the flush.
