does Python actually handle SIGTERM and call sys.exitfunc?

Mail Archiving Daemon bboard at parc.xerox.com
Tue Apr 18 19:43:08 EDT 2000


I'm looking at the documentation for the signal module in the 1.5.2
Library document, which says:

     Python installs a small number of signal handlers by default:
     `SIGPIPE' is ignored (so write errors on pipes and sockets can be
     reported as ordinary Python exceptions), `SIGINT' is translated
     into a `KeyboardInterrupt' exception, and `SIGTERM' is caught so
     that necessary cleanup (especially `sys.exitfunc') can be
     performed before actually terminating.  All of these can be
     overridden.

I can find no evidence that SIGTERM is ever caught anywhere in the
interpreter.  Can someone point me to the place where this is done?

Also, when I try the following small program:


   import sys, time, signal

   def writeit (msg):
      sys.stdout.write("exiting (" + msg + ")...\n")
      sys.stdout.flush()

   sys.exitfunc = lambda x="foo": writeit(x)
   time.sleep(60)


running it thusly:

   /tmp 359 % python test.py &
   [2] 11067
   /tmp 360 % kill 11067
   /tmp 361 % 
   [2]    Terminated           python test.py
   /tmp 361 % 

I see no output saying "exiting (foo)...".

This might be a documentation bug.

Bill





More information about the Python-list mailing list