Don't write runtime created objects to disk before validating them

lib/remote/configobjectutility.cpp

@@ -198,13 +198,16 @@ bool ConfigObjectUtility::CreateObject(const Type::Ptr& type, const String& full
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	Utility::MkDirP(Utility::DirName(path), 0700);
-
-	std::ofstream fp(path.CStr(), std::ofstream::out | std::ostream::trunc);
-	fp << config;
-	fp.close();
-
-	std::unique_ptr<Expression> expr = ConfigCompiler::CompileFile(path, String(), "_api");
+	// Given that the internal config::Update cluster events are using this as well to create synced runtime objects,
+	// we don't want to write the config first to the disk and then load and validate it with CompileFile.
+	// Otherwise, we are forced to remove the newly created file whenever we can't validate, commit or activate it,
+	// even if something goes terribly wrong. This approach would also have the downside that two cluster events for
+	// the same object arriving at the same time from two different endpoints would result in two threads simultaneously
+	// creating and loading the same configuration file - whereby only one of them surpasses the validation process,
+	// while the other is facing an object `re-definition` error and tries to remove that configuration file it
+	// mistakenly thinks it has created. As a consequence, an object successfully created by the former is implicitly
+	// deleted by the latter thread, causing the objects to mysteriously disappear.
+	std::unique_ptr<Expression> expr = ConfigCompiler::CompileText(path, config, String(), "_api");
 
 	try {
 		ActivationScope ascope;
@@ -227,8 +230,6 @@ bool ConfigObjectUtility::CreateObject(const Type::Ptr& type, const String& full
 				Log(LogNotice, "ConfigObjectUtility")
 					<< "Failed to commit config item '" << fullName << "'. Aborting and removing config path '" << path << "'.";
 
-				Utility::Remove(path);
-
 				for (const boost::exception_ptr& ex : upq.GetExceptions()) {
 					errors->Add(DiagnosticInformation(ex, false));
 
@@ -250,8 +251,6 @@ bool ConfigObjectUtility::CreateObject(const Type::Ptr& type, const String& full
 				Log(LogNotice, "ConfigObjectUtility")
 					<< "Failed to activate config object '" << fullName << "'. Aborting and removing config path '" << path << "'.";
 
-				Utility::Remove(path);
-
 				for (const boost::exception_ptr& ex : upq.GetExceptions()) {
 					errors->Add(DiagnosticInformation(ex, false));
 
@@ -275,6 +274,13 @@ bool ConfigObjectUtility::CreateObject(const Type::Ptr& type, const String& full
 		ConfigObject::Ptr obj = ctype->GetObject(fullName);
 
 		if (obj) {
+			// It's now safe to put the config on the disk as the object has surpassed the compiling/validation processes.
+			Utility::MkDirP(Utility::DirName(path), 0700);
+
+			std::ofstream fp(path.CStr(), std::ofstream::out | std::ostream::trunc);
+			fp << config;
+			fp.close();
+
 			Log(LogInformation, "ConfigObjectUtility")
 				<< "Created and activated object '" << fullName << "' of type '" << type->GetName() << "'.";
 		} else {
@@ -283,8 +289,6 @@ bool ConfigObjectUtility::CreateObject(const Type::Ptr& type, const String& full
 		}
 
 	} catch (const std::exception& ex) {
-		Utility::Remove(path);
-
 		if (errors)
 			errors->Add(DiagnosticInformation(ex, false));