### Namespaces, Threads, and Go On Linux each OS thread can have a different network namespace. Go's thread scheduling model switches goroutines between OS threads based on OS thread load and whether the goroutine would block other goroutines. This can result in a goroutine switching network namespaces without notice and lead to errors in your code. ### Namespace Switching Switching namespaces with the `ns.Set()` method is not recommended without additional strategies to prevent unexpected namespace changes when your goroutines switch OS threads. Go provides the `runtime.LockOSThread()` function to ensure a specific goroutine executes on its current OS thread and prevents any other goroutine from running in that thread until the locked one exits. Careful usage of `LockOSThread()` and goroutines can provide good control over which network namespace a given goroutine executes in. For example, you cannot rely on the `ns.Set()` namespace being the current namespace after the `Set()` call unless you do two things. First, the goroutine calling `Set()` must have previously called `LockOSThread()`. Second, you must ensure `runtime.UnlockOSThread()` is not called somewhere in-between. You also cannot rely on the initial network namespace remaining the current network namespace if any other code in your program switches namespaces, unless you have already called `LockOSThread()` in that goroutine. Note that `LockOSThread()` prevents the Go scheduler from optimally scheduling goroutines for best performance, so `LockOSThread()` should only be used in small, isolated goroutines that release the lock quickly. ### Do() The Recommended Thing The `ns.Do()` method provides control over network namespaces for you by implementing these strategies. All code dependent on a particular network namespace should be wrapped in the `ns.Do()` method to ensure the correct namespace is selected for the duration of your code. For example: ```go targetNs, err := ns.NewNS() if err != nil { return err } err = targetNs.Do(func(hostNs ns.NetNS) error { dummy := &netlink.Dummy{ LinkAttrs: netlink.LinkAttrs{ Name: "dummy0", }, } return netlink.LinkAdd(dummy) }) ``` ### Further Reading - https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/LockOSThread - http://morsmachine.dk/go-scheduler