1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/synapse/state/__init__.py b/synapse/state/__init__.py
index 87ccd52f0a..69834de0de 100644
--- a/synapse/state/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/state/__init__.py
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ class StateHandler:
         self,
         event: EventBase,
         state_ids_before_event: Optional[StateMap[str]] = None,
-        partial_state: bool = False,
+        partial_state: Optional[bool] = None,
     ) -> EventContext:
         """Build an EventContext structure for a non-outlier event.
 
@@ -270,8 +270,12 @@ class StateHandler:
                 it can't be calculated from existing events. This is normally
                 only specified when receiving an event from federation where we
                 don't have the prev events, e.g. when backfilling.
-            partial_state: True if `state_ids_before_event` is partial and omits
-                non-critical membership events
+            partial_state:
+                `True` if `state_ids_before_event` is partial and omits non-critical
+                membership events.
+                `False` if `state_ids_before_event` is the full state.
+                `None` when `state_ids_before_event` is not provided. In this case, the
+                flag will be calculated based on `event`'s prev events.
         Returns:
             The event context.
         """
@@ -298,12 +302,14 @@ class StateHandler:
                 )
             )
 
+            # the partial_state flag must be provided
+            assert partial_state is not None
         else:
             # otherwise, we'll need to resolve the state across the prev_events.
 
             # partial_state should not be set explicitly in this case:
             # we work it out dynamically
-            assert not partial_state
+            assert partial_state is None
 
             # if any of the prev-events have partial state, so do we.
             # (This is slightly racy - the prev-events might get fixed up before we use
@@ -313,13 +319,13 @@ class StateHandler:
             incomplete_prev_events = await self.store.get_partial_state_events(
                 prev_event_ids
             )
-            if any(incomplete_prev_events.values()):
+            partial_state = any(incomplete_prev_events.values())
+            if partial_state:
                 logger.debug(
                     "New/incoming event %s refers to prev_events %s with partial state",
                     event.event_id,
                     [k for (k, v) in incomplete_prev_events.items() if v],
                 )
-                partial_state = True
 
             logger.debug("calling resolve_state_groups from compute_event_context")
             # we've already taken into account partial state, so no need to wait for