Merge pull request #38166 from jules2689/master

Only assign @new_record_before_save once in autosave_association

activerecord/lib/active_record/autosave_association.rb

@@ -365,7 +365,9 @@ def normalize_reflection_attribute(indexed_attribute, reflection, index, attribu
       # Is used as a before_save callback to check while saving a collection
       # association whether or not the parent was a new record before saving.
       def before_save_collection_association
-        @new_record_before_save = new_record?
+        unless defined?(@new_record_before_save)
+          @new_record_before_save = new_record?
+        end
       end
 
       def after_save_collection_association

activerecord/test/cases/autosave_association_test.rb

@@ -35,6 +35,30 @@
 require "models/reply"
 
 class TestAutosaveAssociationsInGeneral < ActiveRecord::TestCase
+  def test_autosave_works_even_when_other_callbacks_update_the_parent_model
+    reference = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) do
+      self.table_name = "references"
+      def self.name; "Reference"; end
+    end
+
+    person = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) do
+      self.table_name = "people"
+      def self.name; "Person"; end
+
+      # It is necessary that the after_create is before the has_many _and_ that it updates the model.
+      # This replicates a bug found in https://github.com/rails/rails/issues/38120
+      after_create { update(first_name: "first name") }
+      has_many :references, autosave: true, anonymous_class: reference
+    end
+
+    reference_instance = reference.create!
+    person_instance = person.create!(first_name: "foo", references: [reference_instance])
+
+    reference_instance.reload
+    assert_equal person_instance.id, reference_instance.person_id
+    assert_equal "first name", person_instance.first_name # Make sure the after_create is actually called
+  end
+
   def test_autosave_does_not_pass_through_non_custom_validation_contexts
     person = Class.new(ActiveRecord::Base) {
       self.table_name = "people"

guides/source/active_record_callbacks.md

@@ -117,6 +117,8 @@ Here is a list with all the available Active Record callbacks, listed in the sam
 
 WARNING. `after_save` runs both on create and update, but always _after_ the more specific callbacks `after_create` and `after_update`, no matter the order in which the macro calls were executed.
 
+WARNING. Care should be taken in callbacks to avoid updating attributes. For example, avoid running `update(attribute: "value")` and similar code during callbacks. This can alter the state of the model and may result in unexpected side effects during commit. Instead, you should try to assign values in the `before_create` or earlier callbacks.
+
 NOTE: `before_destroy` callbacks should be placed before `dependent: :destroy`
 associations (or use the `prepend: true` option), to ensure they execute before
 the records are deleted by `dependent: :destroy`.