@@ -360,6 +360,10 @@ func (container *Container) Start() (err error) {

 		return nil

 	}

+	if container.removalInProgress || container.Dead {

+		return fmt.Errorf("Container is marked for removal and cannot be started.")

+	}

+

 	// if we encounter an error during start we need to ensure that any other

 	// setup has been cleaned up properly

 	defer func() {

@@ -63,8 +63,15 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) ContainerRm(job *engine.Job) error {

 				return fmt.Errorf("Conflict, You cannot remove a running container. Stop the container before attempting removal or use -f")

 			}

 		}

-		if err := daemon.Rm(container); err != nil {

-			return fmt.Errorf("Cannot destroy container %s: %s", name, err)

+

+		if forceRemove {

+			if err := daemon.ForceRm(container); err != nil {

+				logrus.Errorf("Cannot destroy container %s: %v", name, err)

+			}

+		} else {

+			if err := daemon.Rm(container); err != nil {

+				return fmt.Errorf("Cannot destroy container %s: %v", name, err)

+			}

 		}

 		container.LogEvent("destroy")

 		if removeVolume {

@@ -83,8 +90,16 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) DeleteVolumes(volumeIDs map[string]struct{}) {

 	}

 }

+func (daemon *Daemon) Rm(container *Container) (err error) {

+	return daemon.commonRm(container, false)

+}

+

+func (daemon *Daemon) ForceRm(container *Container) (err error) {

+	return daemon.commonRm(container, true)

+}

+

 // Destroy unregisters a container from the daemon and cleanly removes its contents from the filesystem.

-func (daemon *Daemon) Rm(container *Container) error {

+func (daemon *Daemon) commonRm(container *Container, forceRemove bool) (err error) {

 	if container == nil {

 		return fmt.Errorf("The given container is <nil>")

 	}

@@ -94,19 +109,40 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) Rm(container *Container) error {

 		return fmt.Errorf("Container %v not found - maybe it was already destroyed?", container.ID)

 	}

-	if err := container.Stop(3); err != nil {

+	// Container state RemovalInProgress should be used to avoid races.

+	if err = container.SetRemovalInProgress(); err != nil {

+		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to set container state to RemovalInProgress: %s", err)

+	}

+

+	defer container.ResetRemovalInProgress()

+

+	if err = container.Stop(3); err != nil {

 		return err

 	}

-	// Deregister the container before removing its directory, to avoid race conditions

-	daemon.idIndex.Delete(container.ID)

-	daemon.containers.Delete(container.ID)

+	// Mark container dead. We don't want anybody to be restarting it.

+	container.SetDead()

+

+	// Save container state to disk. So that if error happens before

+	// container meta file got removed from disk, then a restart of

+	// docker should not make a dead container alive.

+	container.ToDisk()

+

+	// If force removal is required, delete container from various

+	// indexes even if removal failed.

+	defer func() {

+		if err != nil && forceRemove {

+			daemon.idIndex.Delete(container.ID)

+			daemon.containers.Delete(container.ID)

+		}

+	}()

+

 	container.derefVolumes()

 	if _, err := daemon.containerGraph.Purge(container.ID); err != nil {

 		logrus.Debugf("Unable to remove container from link graph: %s", err)

 	}

-	if err := daemon.driver.Remove(container.ID); err != nil {

+	if err = daemon.driver.Remove(container.ID); err != nil {

 		return fmt.Errorf("Driver %s failed to remove root filesystem %s: %s", daemon.driver, container.ID, err)

 	}

@@ -115,15 +151,17 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) Rm(container *Container) error {

 		return fmt.Errorf("Driver %s failed to remove init filesystem %s: %s", daemon.driver, initID, err)

 	}

-	if err := os.RemoveAll(container.root); err != nil {

+	if err = os.RemoveAll(container.root); err != nil {

 		return fmt.Errorf("Unable to remove filesystem for %v: %v", container.ID, err)

 	}

-	if err := daemon.execDriver.Clean(container.ID); err != nil {

+	if err = daemon.execDriver.Clean(container.ID); err != nil {

 		return fmt.Errorf("Unable to remove execdriver data for %s: %s", container.ID, err)

 	}

 	selinuxFreeLxcContexts(container.ProcessLabel)

+	daemon.idIndex.Delete(container.ID)

+	daemon.containers.Delete(container.ID)

 	return nil

 }

@@ -11,16 +11,18 @@ import (

 type State struct {

 	sync.Mutex

-	Running    bool

-	Paused     bool

-	Restarting bool

-	OOMKilled  bool

-	Pid        int

-	ExitCode   int

-	Error      string // contains last known error when starting the container

-	StartedAt  time.Time

-	FinishedAt time.Time

-	waitChan   chan struct{}

+	Running           bool

+	Paused            bool

+	Restarting        bool

+	OOMKilled         bool

+	removalInProgress bool // Not need for this to be persistent on disk.

+	Dead              bool

+	Pid               int

+	ExitCode          int

+	Error             string // contains last known error when starting the container

+	StartedAt         time.Time

+	FinishedAt        time.Time

+	waitChan          chan struct{}

 }

 func NewState() *State {

@@ -42,6 +44,14 @@ func (s *State) String() string {

 		return fmt.Sprintf("Up %s", units.HumanDuration(time.Now().UTC().Sub(s.StartedAt)))

 	}

+	if s.removalInProgress {

+		return "Removal In Progress"

+	}

+

+	if s.Dead {

+		return "Dead"

+	}

+

 	if s.FinishedAt.IsZero() {

 		return ""

 	}

@@ -60,6 +70,11 @@ func (s *State) StateString() string {

 		}

 		return "running"

 	}

+

+	if s.Dead {

+		return "dead"

+	}

+

 	return "exited"

 }

@@ -217,3 +232,25 @@ func (s *State) IsPaused() bool {

 	s.Unlock()

 	return res

 }

+

+func (s *State) SetRemovalInProgress() error {

+	s.Lock()

+	defer s.Unlock()

+	if s.removalInProgress {

+		return fmt.Errorf("Status is already RemovalInProgress")

+	}

+	s.removalInProgress = true

+	return nil

+}

+

+func (s *State) ResetRemovalInProgress() {

+	s.Lock()

+	s.removalInProgress = false

+	s.Unlock()

+}

+

+func (s *State) SetDead() {

+	s.Lock()

+	s.Dead = true

+	s.Unlock()

+}