feat(MultiThreadedExecutor): Added ability to handle exceptions from threads

This commit adds external exception handling for the worker threads,
allowing application code to implement custom exception handling.

Signed-off-by: Janosch Machowinski <[email protected]>

Author: Janosch Machowinski

rclcpp/include/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.hpp

@@ -69,14 +69,26 @@ class MultiThreadedExecutor : public rclcpp::Executor
   void
   spin() override;
 
+  /**
+   * \sa rclcpp::Executor:spin() for more details
+   * \throws std::runtime_error when spin() called while already spinning
+   * @param exception_handler will be called for every exception in the processing threads
+   *
+   * The exception_handler can be called from multiple threads at the same time.
+   * The exception_handler shall rethrow the exception it if wants to terminate the program.
+   */
+  RCLCPP_PUBLIC
+  void
+  spin(std::function<void(const std::exception & e)> exception_handler);
+
   RCLCPP_PUBLIC
   size_t
   get_number_of_threads();
 
 protected:
   RCLCPP_PUBLIC
   void
-  run(size_t this_thread_number);
+  run(size_t this_thread_number, std::function<void(const std::exception & e)> exception_handler);
 
 private:
   RCLCPP_DISABLE_COPY(MultiThreadedExecutor)

rclcpp/src/rclcpp/executors/multi_threaded_executor.cpp

@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ MultiThreadedExecutor::~MultiThreadedExecutor() {}
 
 void
 MultiThreadedExecutor::spin()
+{
+  spin([](const std::exception & e) {throw e;});
+}
+
+void
+
+MultiThreadedExecutor::spin(std::function<void(const std::exception & e)> exception_handler)
 {
   if (spinning.exchange(true)) {
     throw std::runtime_error("spin() called while already spinning");
@@ -61,12 +68,12 @@ MultiThreadedExecutor::spin()
   {
     std::lock_guard wait_lock{wait_mutex_};
     for (; thread_id < number_of_threads_ - 1; ++thread_id) {
-      auto func = std::bind(&MultiThreadedExecutor::run, this, thread_id);
+      auto func = std::bind(&MultiThreadedExecutor::run, this, thread_id, exception_handler);
       threads.emplace_back(func);
     }
   }
 
-  run(thread_id);
+  run(thread_id, exception_handler);
   for (auto & thread : threads) {
     thread.join();
   }
@@ -79,28 +86,40 @@ MultiThreadedExecutor::get_number_of_threads()
 }
 
 void
-MultiThreadedExecutor::run(size_t this_thread_number)
+MultiThreadedExecutor::run(
+  size_t this_thread_number,
+  std::function<void(const std::exception & e)> exception_handler)
 {
-  (void)this_thread_number;
-  while (rclcpp::ok(this->context_) && spinning.load()) {
-    rclcpp::AnyExecutable any_exec;
-    {
-      std::lock_guard wait_lock{wait_mutex_};
-      if (!rclcpp::ok(this->context_) || !spinning.load()) {
-        return;
+  try {
+
+    (void)this_thread_number;
+    while (rclcpp::ok(this->context_) && spinning.load()) {
+      rclcpp::AnyExecutable any_exec;
+      {
+        std::lock_guard wait_lock{wait_mutex_};
+        if (!rclcpp::ok(this->context_) || !spinning.load()) {
+          return;
+        }
+        if (!get_next_executable(any_exec, next_exec_timeout_)) {
+          continue;
+        }
       }
-      if (!get_next_executable(any_exec, next_exec_timeout_)) {
-        continue;
+      if (yield_before_execute_) {
+        std::this_thread::yield();
       }
-    }
-    if (yield_before_execute_) {
-      std::this_thread::yield();
+
+      execute_any_executable(any_exec);
+
+      // Clear the callback_group to prevent the AnyExecutable destructor from
+      // resetting the callback group `can_be_taken_from`
+      any_exec.callback_group.reset();
     }
 
-    execute_any_executable(any_exec);
+  } catch (const std::exception & e) {
+    RCLCPP_ERROR_STREAM(
+      rclcpp::get_logger("rclcpp"),
+      "Exception while spinning : " << e.what());
 
-    // Clear the callback_group to prevent the AnyExecutable destructor from
-    // resetting the callback group `can_be_taken_from`
-    any_exec.callback_group.reset();
+    exception_handler(e);
   }
 }

rclcpp/test/rclcpp/executors/test_multi_threaded_executor.cpp

@@ -96,4 +96,40 @@ TEST_F(TestMultiThreadedExecutor, timer_over_take) {
   auto timer = node->create_wall_timer(PERIOD_MS, timer_callback, cbg);
   executor.add_node(node);
   executor.spin();
+
+}
+
+TEST_F(TestMultiThreadedExecutor, catch_exception) {
+
+  rclcpp::executors::MultiThreadedExecutor executor;
+
+  std::shared_ptr<rclcpp::Node> node =
+    std::make_shared<rclcpp::Node>("test_multi_threaded_executor_catch_exception");
+
+  const std::string test_reason = "test exception";
+
+  auto timer = node->create_wall_timer(
+    std::chrono::milliseconds(1), [test_reason]()
+    {
+      throw std::runtime_error(test_reason);
+    });
+
+  std::atomic_bool caught_exception = false;
+
+  executor.add_node(node);
+  executor.spin(
+    [&caught_exception, &test_reason, &executor](const std::exception & e)
+    {
+      const std::runtime_error * runtime_error = dynamic_cast<const std::runtime_error *>(&e);
+      ASSERT_NE(runtime_error, nullptr);
+
+      ASSERT_EQ(runtime_error->what(), test_reason);
+
+      caught_exception = true;
+
+      executor.cancel();
+    }
+  );
+
+  ASSERT_TRUE(caught_exception);
 }