Move areas:save() into async

On newer Minetest servers, handles saving jobs in async environment. To prevent conflicts, the save file is locked whie saving, and if a code requests saving while the file is locked, data is saved again immediately after finishing the current save.

async.lua

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+areas = rawget(_G, "areas") or {}
+
+local safe_file_write = core.safe_file_write
+if safe_file_write == nil then
+    safe_file_write = function(path, content)
+        local file, err = io.open(path, "w")
+        if err then
+            return err
+        end
+        file:write(content)
+        file:close()
+    end
+end
+
+-- Save the areas table to a file
+function areas._internal_do_save(areas_tb, filename)
+    local datastr = core.write_json(areas_tb)
+    if not datastr then
+        core.log("error", "[areas] Failed to serialize area data!")
+        return
+    end
+    return safe_file_write(filename, datastr)
+end

init.lua

@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ areas.startTime = os.clock()
 areas.modpath = minetest.get_modpath("areas")
 dofile(areas.modpath.."/settings.lua")
 dofile(areas.modpath.."/api.lua")
+
+local async_dofile = core.register_async_dofile or dofile
+async_dofile(areas.modpath.."/async.lua")
+
 dofile(areas.modpath.."/internal.lua")
 dofile(areas.modpath.."/chatcommands.lua")
 dofile(areas.modpath.."/pos.lua")

internal.lua

@@ -4,26 +4,38 @@ function areas:player_exists(name)
 	return minetest.get_auth_handler().get_auth(name) ~= nil
 end
 
-local safe_file_write = minetest.safe_file_write
+-- When saving is done in an async thread, the function will not be present in this global namespace.
-if safe_file_write == nil then
+if not areas._internal_do_save then
-	function safe_file_write(path, content)
+	local saving_requested = false
-		local file, err = io.open(path, "w")
+	local saving_locked = false
-		if err then
+
-			return err
+	-- Required cuz we are referring to _G.areas._internal_do_save *inside*
+	-- async env (it does not exist in the main thread)
+	local function async_func(...)
+		return areas._internal_do_save(...)
 	end
-		file:write(content)
+
-		file:close()
+	local function done_callback()
+		saving_locked = false
+		if saving_requested == true then
+			saving_requested = false
+			return areas:save()
 		end
 	end
 
+	function areas:save()
+		if saving_locked == true then
+			saving_requested = true
+		else
+			saving_locked = true
+			return core.handle_async(async_func, done_callback, self.areas, self.config.filename)
+		end
+	end
+else
 	-- Save the areas table to a file
 	function areas:save()
-	local datastr = minetest.write_json(self.areas)
+		return areas._internal_do_save(self.areas, self.config.filename)
-	if not datastr then
-		minetest.log("error", "[areas] Failed to serialize area data!")
-		return
 	end
-	return safe_file_write(self.config.filename, datastr)
 end
 
 -- Load the areas table from the save file