[Pythonmac-SIG] urllib and ftplib hang in bundle but not when run directly

[Russell E. Owen]

(I posted a similar message to comp.lang.python, but I'm hoping the fact 
that this fails as a bundled app but not when run from the command line 
might offer a clue to Mac mavens).

I am having trouble with some ftp code. On some platforms it works fine 
and on others it reliably hangs.

The code uses urllib to retrieve a file in a background thread, which 
runs the following code. The diagnostic message before urllib.urlopen is 
printed, but the one after urllib.urlopen is not:

    def _getTask(self):
        try:
            self._toFile = file(self.toPath, 'wb')
            print "opening URL"
            self._fromFile = urllib.urlopen(self.fromURL)
            print "URL opened" # when hung this does not print
            self._totBytes = 
self._fromFile.info().getheader("Content-Length")
            if self._totBytes:
                self._totBytes = int(self._totBytes)
            
            self._state = Running
            
            while True:
                nextData = self._fromFile.read(8192)
                if not nextData:
                    break
                elif self._state == Aborting:
                    self._cleanup(Aborted)
                    return
                self._readBytes += len(nextData)
                self._toFile.write(nextData)
            self._cleanup(Done)
        except Exception, e:
            self._cleanup(Failed, exception = e)

What is really weird, I can only make it hang when run as part of a 
fairly large Tkinter application. The same code runs fine standalone or 
as part of a minimal Tkinter test application.

Also, the large Tkinter app runs perfectly on my MacOS X 10.3.3 box. 
However, I FTP hangs when I  build that same code into a 
double-clickable app via bundlebuilder (though in all other respects the 
bundle works fine). FTP hangs also when I run the same code on a RedHat 
box (python 2.3.3).

The same code also used to run fine, suggesting a change at the server 
end or in the network. But I can't see how that could make it my code in 
some circumstances and fail in others unless I'm also doing something 
wrong.

Anyway, despite the weird inconsistency as to when it works or fails, I 
also tried digging deeper into where it was hanging. I converted the 
code to running with ftplib (which hangs in the same way, no surprise 
since urllib uses ftplib for ftp) and adding diagnostic print 
statements. Using ftpObj.ntransfercmd(cmd) to make the transfer I find 
it hangs on "makepasv" if a passive transfer (which is what I'd always 
used) and on sock.accept if not a passive transfer.

The large application has one other thread for communicating via one TCP 
socket. In all other respects the large app runs fine; the ftp hangs 
while everything else keeps cooking along. Closing the TCP connection 
(which stop the one extra thread) has no effect on the stalled ftp 
transfer.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

-- Russell