NotificationCenter delivery order for concurrent multi-threaded posts
0 reputation · 25 Jan 2024, 08:19 UTC
Apple's Foundation NotificationCenter manages the distribution of notifications to registered observers. When notifications are posted from a single thread, the delivery sequence is predictable. However, a design challenge arises when multiple threads post notifications concurrently to the same center.
In environments such as iOS 17 or macOS 14, the framework does not specify a guaranteed delivery order for notifications originating from different threads. This nondeterministic behavior can lead to race conditions if the application logic assumes a specific sequence of events across these threads.
Given that the framework provides no native API to enforce global ordering across concurrent posts, what is the recommended architectural pattern to ensure a deterministic sequence without introducing deadlocks? Is there a documented configuration to serialize delivery across disparate posting threads?