Question about pipes/os.popen

[Steve Holden]

Kevin Walzer wrote:
> I'm trying to structure a Python script that streams output over a pipe.
> 
> Here is my code:
> 
> import os
> 
> cmd = os.popen('echo foo | sudo -S /usr/sbin/tcpdump -en1')
> cmd.read()
> 
> This returns output of "". I'm expecting the standard output of "tcpdump
> -en1". How does one read unbuffered output over a pipe before the pipe
> is closed in Python? Because I want the output to be updated in real
> time, writing to a temporary file and then reading that data isn't
> feasible.
> 
> I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here.
> 
Probably expecting sudo to read the standard input for its password.

First of all, sudo doesn't always ask for your password. Secondly, when 
it does I'm pretty sure it will take care to try and do it on the 
controlling tty, not by reading stdin.

regards
  Steve
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