scenarios handling with multiple threads in Ruby: how to ensure data consistency?
I'm working with issues with data consistency when using multiple threads in Ruby for a background task. I have a simple implementation where I'm trying to update the same record in the database from different threads. My current code looks like this: ```ruby require 'thread' class DataUpdater def initialize(record_id) @record_id = record_id @mutex = Mutex.new end def update_data(new_value) @mutex.synchronize do record = MyModel.find(@record_id) record.value = new_value record.save! end end end threads = [] 10.times do |i| threads << Thread.new { DataUpdater.new(1).update_data(i) } end threads.each(&:join) ``` While I am using a mutex to prevent simultaneous writes, I am working with the following behavior occasionally: ``` ActiveRecord::StaleObjectError: Attempted to update a stale object: MyModel(1) ``` I believe this happens because the object fetched from the database is getting stale when another thread modifies it before I save my changes. I've tried to catch the `ActiveRecord::StaleObjectError` and retry the update, but it seems to be leading to infinite loops in some cases. What’s the best practice to handle this kind of situation, particularly with ActiveRecord? Should I change my approach to fetching and updating data, or is there a way to properly manage the mutex to avoid this scenario? I'm using Ruby 3.1 and Rails 6.1.