sandboxing python code

[Terry Reedy]

"Michael Chermside" <mcherm at mcherm.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1054662971.17122.python-list at python.org...
> What to do? Well, what you need is a large and complex system for
> managing resources. It should be responsible for providing nearly
all
> resources -- timeslicing CPU use, allocating memory, mitigating
access
> to disk, network sockets, etc, etc. Such a system is called an
> "operating system".

In a house with kids (see first word of subject line), its called
'responsible adult supervision'.  The OPs question is a lot like "How
do I make sure a kid does X in a reasonable amount of time" without
supervision or at even checking on progress from time to time.

> Okay, forgive me my dramatic phrasing... the truth is that resource
> restriction is best done by the operating system... and, in fact,
pretty
> much can ONLY be done by the operating system (if you built
something
> to manage resources this well, you'd be creating your own OS). So
the
> REAL solution is to use the OS.

Back in the days when CPU time cost $6/minute, etcetera, IBM's OSes
monitored usage of scarce resources.  The usage limit per run was the
lesser of what the user had in his/her account and what the user
explicitly allocated to the run.  Limit reached?  Process killed!  ...
One learned to read code carefully and expend time frugally.

Terry J. Reedy