[Python-Dev] Re: Signal-resistant code (was: Two random and nearly unrelated ideas)
Guido van Rossum
guido@python.org
Wed, 04 Sep 2002 09:25:01 -0400
> > Signals: just say no. It is impossible to write correct code in the
> > presence of signals.
>
> Wrapping all I/O calls with PyOS_ wrappers would be a good start.
And what should those wrappers do?
> After that the wrappers can be modified to retry the call on EINTR.
But that's not always what you want to happen! E.g. if an app is
blocked on a read and uses an alarm to bail out of the read.
> This should solve all the problems I have encountered with
> interference to Python code by signals. Any other problems I should
> be aware of?
There's no way to sufficiently test a program that uses signals. The
signal handler cannot touch *any* data, which makes it pretty useless.
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)