When you encounter the error message “commit failed while step execution data was already updated. reverting to old version”, it typically means that there was a problem with persisting the changes made to the data during a step execution. As a result, the system had to revert back to the old version of the data.
This error is commonly faced in scenarios where multiple processes are trying to update the same data simultaneously. Let’s consider an example to understand this better:
Suppose you have a web application where users can submit orders. Each order is processed through multiple steps such as validation, payment processing, and shipping. Now, imagine that two users submit their orders at almost the same time. Both orders go through the validation step, and the system tries to update the step execution data for both orders simultaneously.
Now, if the system is not designed to handle concurrent updates properly, it might encounter a conflict. One possible outcome is that the changes made by one user’s order get persisted successfully while the other user’s changes fail to be committed due to the conflict. As a result, the system reverts back to the old version of the step execution data for the second user’s order, and the “commit failed” error message is displayed.
To prevent this error, you can implement various strategies like using locking mechanisms, optimistic concurrency control, or even adjusting the application design to reduce contention for the same data. These approaches aim to ensure that only one process can modify a piece of data at a time, avoiding conflicts and the need for reverting changes.