trying to kill threads

[Rune Hansen]

anton wilson wrote:

> 
> I'm trying to figure out how to kill a python thread in a way that won't
> trash the interpreter or memory. I have a program that allows a user to
> use our pre-defined python functions to create threads and run his/her own
> function. But when the stop button is pressed, I want to get rid of the
> threads the user created fairly quickly.
> 
> I'm sure every understands the futility of using kill() with python.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Anton
Hi Anton, although this topic is thoroughly discussed before, it probably 
won't hurt with a quick repetition. You should be using threading events..

import threading
class myThread(threading.Thread):
        def __init__(self):
                threading.Thread.__init__(self)
                self._stopevent = threading.Event()

        def run(self):
                while not self._stopevent.isSet():
                        """do stuff"""
                        print "running..."
                        """sleep one sec"""
                        self._stopevent.wait(1)

        def join(self,timeout=None):
                self._stopevent.set()
                threading.Thread.join(self,timeout)

t = myThread()
t.start()
t.join()

Having your users call t.join() ensures that the thread exits nicely.

/rune