[capi-sig] Threading failure

[Paul Grunau]

I asked this question here a few days ago, and someone suggested I ask again, 
providing all the code, so that it can be actually tried. So here it is, and I’m 
still stumped. 

Original post:
I have a problem with threading using the Python/C API. I have an extension that 
implements a timer, and the C++ timer callback function calls a Python function. 
The code looks like this:
// fetimer.cpp : Defines the exported functions for timer function.
#define_WIN32_WINNT          0x502
 
#include"stdafx.h"
#include"mmsystem.h"
#include"python.h"
 
#defineTARGET_RESOLUTION     1
 
UINT wTimerRes,fooval;
 
BOOL LEDflag,timeFlag;
BOOL timerActive = FALSE;
BOOL timerSet = FALSE;
BOOL funcsetFlag = FALSE;
BOOL modsetFlag = FALSE;
BOOL attrsetFlag = FALSE;
UINT wTimerID,timeval,setVal = 2000;
HANDLE porthandle;
TIMECAPS tc;
 
UINT userval,*pVal;
 
PyObject *mod, *attr, *pargs, *pres;
 
UINT SetTimerCallback( UINT wTimrID, UINT msInterval );
staticvoid CALLBACK PeriodicTimer(UINT wTimerID, UINT msg, 
    DWORD dwUser, DWORD dw1, DWORD dw2);
PyObject *ProcessTimer( void );
PyObject *pymod;
PyObject *pattr;
PyObject *foop;
staticvoid (*pFunc)(UINT wTimerID, UINT msg, 
    DWORD dwUser, DWORD dw1, DWORD dw2);
 
staticPyObject *timer_setup( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
 
      if (timeGetDevCaps(&tc, sizeof(TIMECAPS)) != TIMERR_NOERROR) {
      }
 
      wTimerRes = min(max(tc.wPeriodMin, TARGET_RESOLUTION), tc.wPeriodMax);
      timeBeginPeriod(wTimerRes); 
 
      LEDflag = FALSE;
      timeFlag = FALSE;
      timerActive = FALSE;
      userval = 123;
      pVal = &userval;
      Py_Initialize();
      fooval = 0;
      return Py_None;
}
 
staticPyObject *timer_start( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
      int tval = 2000;
      if( timerActive ){
            timeKillEvent( wTimerID );
      }
      if( timerSet ){
            tval = setVal;
      }
      UINT retval = SetTimerCallback( wTimerID, tval );
      timerActive = TRUE;
      return Py_None;
}
 
UINT SetTimerCallback(UINT wTimrID,  // sequencer data
    UINT msInterval)                // event interval
{ 
    wTimerID = timeSetEvent(
        msInterval,                    // delay
        wTimerRes,                     // resolution (global variable)
        (LPTIMECALLBACK)PeriodicTimer,               // callback function
        wTimrID,                  // user data
        TIME_PERIODIC|TIME_CALLBACK_FUNCTION );               
    if(!wTimerID)
      {
        return 999;
      }
      else{
        return 0;
      }
} 
 
staticvoid CALLBACK PeriodicTimer(UINT wTimerID, UINT msg, 
    DWORD dwUser, DWORD dw1, DWORD dw2) 
{ 
      PyGILState_STATE pgs;
 
      pgs = PyGILState_Ensure();
      if(attrsetFlag)
      {
            pres = PyObject_CallFunction(attr,NULL);
            if( pres == NULL )printf("CallFunction failed!\n");
      }
 
      PyGILState_Release( pgs );
 
} 
 
staticPyObject *timer_kill( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
      timeKillEvent( wTimerID );
      timerSet = FALSE;
      timerActive = FALSE;
      return Py_None;
}
 
staticPyObject *timer_settime( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
      UINT t;
      PyArg_ParseTuple( pArgs, "i", &t );
      setVal = t;
      timerSet = TRUE;
      return Py_None;
}
 
staticPyObject *timer_setmodname( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
 
      char *b;
      PyArg_ParseTuple( pArgs, "s", &b );
      mod = PyImport_ImportModule(b);
      if( mod == NULL )
      {
            printf("Could not import %s\n",b);
            return Py_None;
      }
      modsetFlag = TRUE;
      return Py_None;
}
 
staticPyObject *timer_setprocname( PyObject *pSelf, PyObject *pArgs )
{
      char *b;
      if( !modsetFlag )return Py_None;
      PyArg_ParseTuple( pArgs, "s", &b );
      attr = PyObject_GetAttrString(mod,b);
      if( attr == NULL )
      {
            printf("Could not import %s\n",b);
            return Py_None;
      }
      attrsetFlag = TRUE;
      return Py_None;
}
 
 
staticPyMethodDef fetimer_methods[] = {
      {"timer", timer_setup, METH_VARARGS, "blah"},
      {"start", timer_start, METH_VARARGS, "start timer" },
      {"kill", timer_kill, METH_VARARGS, "kill timer" },
      {"settime", timer_settime, METH_VARARGS, "set timer" },
      {"setmodname", timer_setmodname, METH_VARARGS, "set module name" },
      {"setprocname", timer_setprocname, METH_VARARGS, "set procedure name" },
      {NULL, NULL}
};
 
PyMODINIT_FUNC
initfetimer(void)
{
      Py_InitModule("fetimer", fetimer_methods);
}
The Python code (Timetest3.py) that sets this up looks like this:
#Time Test 3.py


import fetimer
#import feserial
import time


Hit = 0
L = 0


fetimer.timer()

fetimer.settime(30)

fetimer.setmodname("Timeslice3")

fetimer.setprocname("Timetester")


#feserial.open(4)

#feserial.dtr(0)



print "\n Program Waiting for Time Slice"


fetimer.start()



while True:
    time.sleep(0.010)
      
 
and the module Timeslice3.py looks like this:
 
#Timeslice3.py
def Timetester():
      pass 

The application should run by entering "python timetest3.py" at the command 
prompt.

When I run this stuff, it works fine for hundreds, often even thousands, of 
timer ticks (I’ve been testing with about thirty ticks per second, but it 
doesn’t matter – it still crashes at ten or fewer ticks per second). Sometimes 
it runs for only a few seconds, sometimes for ten minutes or so. But it always 
eventually crashes Python. Usually it gives no error message. Sometimes, though, 
it does give an error message, but not always the same one. I’ve noted three 
that it has given in my testing so far:
 
Fatal Python Error: This thread state must be current when releasing
 
Fatal Python Error: PyThreadState_DeleteCurrent: no current tstate
 
Fatal Python Error: PyEval_SaveThread: NULL tstate
 
Can anybody help me make this code stable, so that it works all the time? I’m 
using Python 2.6.5 under Windows Vista, but it crashes under Windows XP as well.