[Python-Dev] pthreads, fork, import, and execvp

[Thomas Wouters]

On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 20:19, Gregory P. Smith <greg at krypto.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 9:07 AM, Thomas Wouters<thomas at python.org> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 19:25, Gregory P. Smith <greg at krypto.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 4:28 PM, Thomas Wouters<thomas at python.org>
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > So attached (and at http://codereview.appspot.com/96125/show ) is a
> >> > preliminary fix, correcting the problem with os.fork(), os.forkpty()
> and
> >> > os.fork1(). This doesn't expose a general API for C code to use, for
> two
> >> > reasons: it's not easy, and I need this fix more than I need the API
> >> > change
> >> > :-) (I actually need this fix myself for Python 2.4, but it applies
> >> > fairly
> >> > cleanly.)
> >>
> >> This looks good to me.
> >
> > Anyone else want to take a look at this before I check it in? I updated
> the
> > patch (in Rietveld) to contain some documentation about the hazards of
> > mixing fork and threads, which is the best we can do at the moment, at
> least
> > without seriously overhauling the threading APIs (which, granted, is not
> > that bad an idea, considering the mess they're in.) I've now thoroughly
> > tested the patch, and for most platforms it's strictly better. On AIX it
> > *may* behave differently (possibly 'incorrectly' for specific cases) if
> > something other than os.fork() calls the C fork() and calls
> > PyOS_AfterFork(), since on AIX it used to nuke the thread lock. *I* think
> > the new behaviour (not nuking the lock) is the correct thing to do, but
> > since most places that release the import lock don't bother to check if
> the
> > lock was even held, the old behaviour may have been succesfully masking
> the
> > bug on AIX systems.
> > Perhaps for the backport to 2.6 (which I think is in order, and also in
> > accordance with the guidelines) I should leave the AIX workaround in?
> Anyone
> > think it should not be removed from 3.x/2.7?
> >
> >>
> >> Your idea of making this an API called a 'fork lock' or something
> >> sounds good (though I think it needs a better name.  PyBeforeFork &
> >> PyAfterFork?).  The subprocess module, for example, disables garbage
> >> collection before forking and restores it afterwards to avoid
> >> http://bugs.python.org/issue1336.  That type of thing could also be
> >> done in such a function.
> >
> > Unfortunately it's rather hard to make those functions work correctly
> with
> > the current API -- we can't provide functions you can just use as
> arguments
> > to pthread_atfork because the global interpreter lock is not re-entrant
> and
> > we have no way of testing whether the current thread holds the GIL. I
> also
> > get the creepy-crawlies when I look at the various thread_*
> implementations
> > and see the horribly unsafe things they do (and also, for instance, the
> > PendingCall stuff in ceval.c :S) Unfortunately there's no good way to fix
> > these things without breaking API compatibility, let alone ABI
> > compatibility.
>
> Take a look at http://code.google.com/p/python-atfork/ which I created
> to address the general fork+threading with locks held causing
> deadlocks issue with many standard library modules.  Currently it only
> patches the logging module but I intend to support others.  I want to
> get an atfork mechanism into 2.7/3.2 along with every lock in the
> standard library making proper use of it.
>
> See also http://bugs.python.org/issue6721
>
> I make no attempt to deal with C-level locks, only those acquired from
> python.  It doesn't use pthread_atfork but instead models its behavior
> after that and wraps os.fork and os.forkpty so that they call the
> registered atfork methods as appropriate.


Well, sure, the *Python code* side of the problem is fixable, thanks to
Python being so awesome ;-P I'm strictly thinking of applications embedding
Python (or even extending it and calling into code that doesn't consider
Python.) Your python-atfork project looks like a terribly good idea, but it
won't fix the embedding/extending issues (nor is it intended to, right?)

-- 
Thomas Wouters <thomas at python.org>

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