[Python-Dev] test_pty.py hangs in verbose mode on Mac OS X?

[Barry Warsaw]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I've been getting some test failures in Python 2.5 svn head on Mac OS  
X 10.4.9 which I'm not getting on Linux (Ubuntu feisty beta).   
test_sqlite and test_zipimport both fail, however, when run in  
verbose mode (e.g. ./python.exe Lib/test/test_sqlite.py) both pass.

But that's not exactly why I'm writing this email <wink>.  In the  
course of trying to debug this, I ran the following on my Mac:

make TESTOPTS=-v test

This runs the entire test suite in verbose mode, and you do get a lot  
of output.  However the test suite hangs on test_pty.py.  In fact, if  
you run that test alone:

./python.exe Lib/test/test_pty.py

it too hangs for me.  The reason is that in verbose mode, debug()  
actually prints stuff to stdout and on the Mac, when the child of the  
pty.fork() writes to its stdout, it blocks and so the parent's waitpid 
() never returns.  This doesn't happen on Linux though; the child's  
stdout prints don't block, it exits, and the parent continues after  
the waitpid().

Here's a very simple program that reproduces the problem:

- -----snip snip-----
import os, pty, sys

pid, fd = pty.fork()
print >> sys.stderr, pid, fd
if pid:
     os.waitpid(pid, 0)
else:
     os._exit(0)
- -----snip snip-----

stderr, stdout, doesn't matter.  This hangs on the Mac but completes  
successfully on Linux.  Of course, in neither case do you see the  
child's output.

I don't know if this is caused by a bug in the Mac's pty  
implementation or something we're doing wrong on that platform.  I  
played around with several modifications to pty.fork() on the Mac,  
including letting it drop down to the openpty()/os.fork() code, even  
adding an explicit ioctl(slave_fd, TIOCSCTTY) call which Stevens  
chapter 19 recommends for 4.3+BSD. I can't get it to not block.

Barring a fix to pty.fork() (or possibly os.forkpty()) for the Mac,  
then I would like to at least make test_pty.py not block when run in  
verbose mode.  A very simple hack would add something like this to  
the "if pid == pty.CHILD" stanza: "def debug(msg): pass", possibly  
protected by a "if verbose:".  A less icky hack would be to read the  
output from the master_fd in the parent, though you have to be  
careful with that on Linux else the read can throw an input/output  
error.

Disabling debug output is band-aid yes, and any application on the  
Mac like the above snippet will still fail.  If anybody has any  
suggestions, I'm all ears, but I've reached the limit of my pty-fu.

mr-t-says-i-pty-the-fu-ly y'rs,
- -Barry

P.S. chime on on the test_sqlite and test_zipimport oddities if you  
want. :)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (Darwin)

iQCVAwUBRh+Ug3EjvBPtnXfVAQJ4HgQAkm3XUq27GPBDKJj1NaIHuYijUerSE2oW
9YWiCYNQ+hBaYJJ16gdqZ2f7t/ENYVBzj3r9fNj+uyI1a6OFFMlE1tOdDFscQWUE
e04XGwxo1fEPelJveIw8/dLHCPCpmCqvzLrT8fAtr7HL3thW3rk8s69i9i+CtJ1L
LP7AY/SYXxg=
=I+pF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----