errno 104 (ENOTRECOVERABLE): meaning and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: A robust mutex protects state that was declared permanently inconsistent and can no longer be acquired normally.

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ERROR_INVALID_AT_INTERRUPT_TIME	Win32 error	Windows
ECONNRESET	errno	Linux
EBADMSG	errno	Windows
FILE_INITIALIZATION_FAILED	BugCheck Code	Windows

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ECONNRESET	EBADMSG

ENOTRECOVERABLE

Recovery was attempted or abandoned

ENOTRECOVERABLE is part of robust-mutex recovery semantics. It means that a prior owner died or abandoned protected state, and recovery was not completed in a way that made the state safe for further use. The mutex is not merely busy; normal acquisition is no longer possible.

It is unsafe to continue as though the protected data were valid. The owning subsystem must choose a recovery boundary: rebuild the shared state, replace the synchronization object in a coordinated way, or restart the component that owns the corrupted state. A retry of the same lock operation cannot make the state consistent.

Evidence and recovery plan

Identify the protected state, previous owner, and whether crash recovery recorded a durable checkpoint.
Verify that all participants agree on the reinitialization protocol before destroying or replacing a shared mutex.
Differentiate this from EOWNERDEAD, where the current caller may receive ownership and still have an opportunity to repair the state.

References

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