[Python-Dev] Should execv() call _run_exitfuncs()? If not, should _run_exitfuncs() be private?

[Guido van Rossum]

On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Rocky Bernstein <rocky at gnu.org> wrote:
> As a hobby I've been writing a debugger. One of the
> commands,"restart", works by calling an execv(). You may need to do
> this when
> the program you are debugging is threaded or when one needs to ensure
> that all program state is reinitialized.
>
> Recently, I added remote debugging via TCP sockets and noticed that
> execv() in Python doesn't arrange exit hooks to get called. Should it?
>
> One can run _run_exitfuncs() from the atexit module, but the leading
> underscore of the function call suggests it is private. Should it be?

Depending on the use for the exit function you might or might not want
it run at the occasion of exec*(). E.g. I imagine that in a typical
fork() + exec*() scenario, calling the exit functions in the child
process would be a mistake.

So I don't think the hooks should be called by default. However you
are welcome to call the function (leading underscore and all) if it
helps in your case.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)