Running multiple processes on a shared outlines cache database

[e-tornike]

When using the caching feature of outlines with multiple running processes, the cache database may get accessed simultaneously, resulting in disk I/O or database disk image errors:

sqlite3.OperationalError: disk I/O error

sqlite3.DatabaseError: database disk image is malformed

This is further described in https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/issues/4193 and https://github.com/dottxt-ai/outlines/issues/827.

A workaround for users, who don't use guided decoding, is described in https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/pull/7831.

Another possible workaround is to set a unique cache directory for each process using the environment variable OUTLINES_CACHE_DIR.

An implementation in this framework (here) creates a separate cache database for each model "rank". Does the use_cache argument here aim to solve this issue, or does it have a different use?

[baberabb]

Hi! The use_cache currently implemented here is for caching evaluation results, so that you can continue where you left off in case of an error.

[e-tornike]

Okay, thank you.

Would there be interest in integrating a workaround (e.g., dynamically setting the OUTLINES_CACHE_DIR) into the framework?