4 files changed, 78 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/absl/base/BUILD.bazel b/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
index 1c31211722c2..2717df0c93a1 100644
--- a/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/absl/base/BUILD.bazel
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ cc_library(
     name = "core_headers",
     hdrs = [
         "attributes.h",
+        "const_init.h",
         "macros.h",
         "optimization.h",
         "port.h",
diff --git a/absl/base/CMakeLists.txt b/absl/base/CMakeLists.txt
index 212dd0836284..5178d2bd6eb8 100644
--- a/absl/base/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/absl/base/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ absl_cc_library(
     core_headers
   HDRS
     "attributes.h"
+    "const_init.h"
     "macros.h"
     "optimization.h"
     "port.h"
diff --git a/absl/base/call_once_test.cc b/absl/base/call_once_test.cc
index aa7eb95db262..183b92efa329 100644
--- a/absl/base/call_once_test.cc
+++ b/absl/base/call_once_test.cc
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #include "gtest/gtest.h"
 #include "absl/base/attributes.h"
+#include "absl/base/const_init.h"
 #include "absl/base/thread_annotations.h"
 #include "absl/synchronization/mutex.h"
 
@@ -26,7 +27,8 @@ namespace absl {
 namespace {
 
 absl::once_flag once;
-Mutex counters_mu;
+
+ABSL_CONST_INIT Mutex counters_mu(absl::kConstInit);
 
 int running_thread_count GUARDED_BY(counters_mu) = 0;
 int call_once_invoke_count GUARDED_BY(counters_mu) = 0;
diff --git a/absl/base/const_init.h b/absl/base/const_init.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fc88b2672e23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/absl/base/const_init.h
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+// Copyright 2017 The Abseil Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+//
+// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// kConstInit
+// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//
+// A constructor tag used to mark an object as safe for use as a global
+// variable, avoiding the usual lifetime issues that can affect globals.
+
+#ifndef ABSL_BASE_CONST_INIT_H_
+#define ABSL_BASE_CONST_INIT_H_
+
+// In general, objects with static storage duration (such as global variables)
+// can trigger tricky object lifetime situations.  Attempting to access them
+// from the constructors or destructors of other global objects can result in
+// undefined behavior, unless their constructors and destructors are designed
+// with this issue in mind.
+//
+// The normal way to deal with this issue in C++11 is to use constant
+// initialization and trivial destructors.
+//
+// Constant initialization is guaranteed to occur before any other code
+// executes.  Constructors that are declared 'constexpr' are eligible for
+// constant initialization.  You can annotate a variable declaration with the
+// ABSL_CONST_INIT macro to express this intent.  For compilers that support
+// it, this annotation will cause a compilation error for declarations that
+// aren't subject to constant initialization (perhaps because a runtime value
+// was passed as a constructor argument).
+//
+// On program shutdown, lifetime issues can be avoided on global objects by
+// ensuring that they contain  trivial destructors.  A class has a trivial
+// destructor unless it has a user-defined destructor, a virtual method or base
+// class, or a data member or base class with a non-trivial destructor of its
+// own.  Objects with static storage duration and a trivial destructor are not
+// cleaned up on program shutdown, and are thus safe to access from other code
+// running during shutdown.
+//
+// For a few core Abseil classes, we make a best effort to allow for safe global
+// instances, even though these classes have non-trivial destructors.  These
+// objects can be created with the absl::kConstInit tag.  For example:
+//   ABSL_CONST_INIT absl::Mutex global_mutex(absl::kConstInit);
+//
+// The line above declares a global variable of type absl::Mutex which can be
+// accessed at any point during startup or shutdown.  global_mutex's destructor
+// will still run, but will not invalidate the object.  Note that C++ specifies
+// that accessing an object after its destructor has run results in undefined
+// behavior, but this pattern works on the toolchains we support.
+//
+// The absl::kConstInit tag should only be used to define objects with static
+// or thread_local storage duration.
+//
+
+namespace absl {
+
+enum ConstInitType {
+  kConstInit,
+};
+
+}  // namespace absl
+
+#endif  // ABSL_BASE_CONST_INIT_H_