Portable, generic, graceful termination

[Alexander Staubo]

Python does not seem to clean up gracefully on SIGTERM: The exit 
sequence is not invoked on termination, so the atexit module cannot be 
used to install shutdown logic.

Further, while the signal module allows trapping the signal, it does 
not offer a truly portable way of respecting the termination request. 
As far as I can see, this issue has been a topic of conversation for 
years, but I don't see that it has ever been solved:

   http://www.python.org/search/hypermail/python-1992/0206.html

This is what I came up with initially:

   previousHandler = None
   def handler(signum, frame):
     if previousHandler:
       previousHandler(signum, frame)
     else:
       os._exit(128 + signal.SIGTERM)
   previousHandler = signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, handler)

This at least 1) preserves the Python exit sequence, 2) follows Unix 
conventions, and 3) is friendly to libraries or anyone else who have 
installed their own signal handlers.

I am, however, concerned with the fact that it could be, as Guido 
points out, distruptive to things going on concurrently in the 
interpreter.

The other, seemingly more elegant solution is to invent your own 
exception and add a global exception hook:

   class Dummy(Exception): pass

   previousHandler = None
   def handler(signum, frame):
     if previousHandler:
       previousHandler(signum, frame)
     else:
       raise Dummy()
   previousHandler = signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, handler)

   def hook(type, value, traceback, previous = sys.excepthook):
     if not isinstance(value, Dummy):
       previous(type, value, traceback)

This technique has the downside of possibly being caught by alien 
code. For example, a signal occuring during the following code 
snippet's execution will effectively be ignored:

   try:
     # ... something ...
   except:
     logger.error("Something went wrong", exc_info = True)

Would someone please come along with an incredibly elegant hack that 
everyone but I knows about?

Alexander.