In answering another question* on SO, and the subsequent comment discussion, I ran into a wall on a point that I'm not clear on.

Correct me on any point where I'm astray...

When the Garbage Collector collects an object, it calls that object's finalizer, on a separate thread (unless the finalizer has been suppressed, e.g. through a Dispose() method). While collecting, the GC suspends all threads except the thread that triggered the collection (background collection aside).

What isn't clear:

  1. Does the Garbage Collector wait for the finalizer to execute on that object before collecting it?
  2. If not, does it un-suspend threads while the finalizer is still executing?
  3. If it does wait, what happens if the finalizer runs into a lock being held by one of the suspended threads? Does the finalizer thread deadlock? (In my answer, I argue that this is bad design, but I could possibly see cases where this could happen)

* Link to the original question:
.NET GC Accessing a synchronised object from a finalizer

c# garbage-collection finalizer
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