Go Mutex and RWMutex

External

• https://pkg.go.dev/sync#Mutex

Internal

• The sync package
• Goroutines | Synchronization

Overview

A Mutex is a mutual exclusion lock, implemented as a binary semaphore. Only one goroutine can enter the critical section at a time. Not until the call to the Unlock() function issued can another goroutine enter the critical section.

The usage pattern follows, and the curly braces are not necessary, but can be used for clarity:

var mutex sync.Mutex

...

mutex.Lock() {
    // do something in a mutual exclusion mode
}

mutex.Unlock()

Methods

Lock()

The goroutine should call Lock() before it is about to use the shared data. If nobody called Lock() before, the call will proceed and the calling goroutine will acquire the lock. If somebody else has the lock, the call will block. Multiple threads may potentially block on the same lock.