threading and atexit: different behaviour in python2.6 from 2.5

[Alan]

Hi there,

That's another try to get help about this issue I am facing. To help you to
help me here goes a simple example. This is a very simplification of a very
complex code.

-------------------- thread_ping.py -------------------- begin
import time
import sys
import atexit
from threading import Thread

class testit(Thread):
   def __init__ (self,ip):
      Thread.__init__(self)
      self.ip = ip
      self.status = 0
   def run(self):
      pingaling = os.popen("ping -q -c2 "+self.ip,"r")
      while 1:
        line = pingaling.readline()
        if not line: break
        igot = re.findall(testit.lifeline,line)
        if igot:
           self.status = int(igot[0])

def goodbye(t, report):
    print 'Goodbye'
    print "Status from ",t.ip,"is",report[t.status]

testit.lifeline = re.compile(r"(\d) packets received")
report = ("No response","Partial Response","Alive")

ip = "209.85.227.104" # www.google.com # try with a failing IP if you want
the test to last a bit longer

t = testit(ip)

atexit.register(goodbye, t, report)

t.start()

exit()
-------------------- thread_ping.py -------------------- end

If one runs like:

amadeus[2579]:~/TMP% time python2.6 thread_ping.py
Goodbye
Status from  209.85.227.104 is Alive
python2.6 thread_ping.py  0.02s user 0.02s system 3% cpu 1.056 total

(i.e., python2.6 wait till the thread finishes and leave... I don't want
this behaviour, see below)

and

amadeus[2580]:~/TMP% time python2.5 thread_ping.py
Goodbye
Status from  209.85.227.104 is No response
python2.5 thread_ping.py  0.01s user 0.01s system 90% cpu 0.030 total

(i.e., python2.5 promptly quit, as desired)

Could someone tell me how to get python2.6 to have the same behaviour I see
with python2.5 for this example code?

Any hint would be very much appreciated indeed.

Many thanks in advance.

Alan
-- 
Alan Wilter S. da Silva, D.Sc. - CCPN Research Associate
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge.
80 Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1GA, UK.
>>http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/~awd28<<
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