`forkpty` calls `fork()` underneath. `fork()` in a multithreaded
process is unsafe: only the calling thread survives in the child,
but libc locks held by other threads remain "locked forever." With
the multi-threaded Dart VM as parent, ~5% of spawns deadlocked in
the child before `execve` (forensic probe: child stuck in S state
with comm=`DartWorker`, master fd never sees POLLIN).
`posix_spawn` uses `vfork` on glibc/musl/macOS, keeping the parent
suspended until execve completes — no Dart code runs in the child.
Pty pair built via the POSIX-standard `posix_openpt` / `grantpt` /
`unlockpt` / `ptsname` sequence. Probed: zero hangs in 300
sequential spawns vs ~5% before.
Behavior change: missing executable / missing workingDirectory now
surface as a `PtyException` thrown by `NativePty.start` rather than
a diagnostic written from the child to the slave PTY. Cleaner error
path for callers.
Side benefit: drops the `libutil.so.1` dynamic-library dependency.
PTY now resolves entirely against libc via `DynamicLibrary.process()`.
Splits the library-level `@Tags(['forkpty'])` on session_test.dart
into a per-test tag, so the now-runnable-under-flutter-test cases
contribute to coverage. `dart_test.yaml` declares the tag so the
exclude-tags filters honor it. Drops the `retry: 2` workaround from
the formerly-flaky registry test.
D-5 amended. Trims session-introduced CHANGELOG entries that were
over-verbose for the Keep-a-Changelog format.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
jpmschweitzerandClaude Opus 4.7
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