getattr and method name

[Kevin Walzer]

I'm seeing a very odd error in an application I'm developing using 
Python 2.7.2, on Mac OS 10.7.

This application uses a wrapper method to look up other method names via 
getattr and then call those methods. I have not previously had an issue 
with this name, but for some reason this functionality no longer works 
as expected.

Here is the relevant code:

     #run command with root privileges
     def runCommand(self, cmd, *args):
         try:
             functionstring = args[2]
             callfunction = getattr(self, functionstring.split('.')[1])
             self.passtext = self.tk.call('authorize::getAuthPassword')
             callfunction()
         except:
             try:
                 print cmd
                 functionstring = cmd.split()[2]
                 callfunction = getattr(self, functionstring.split('.')[1])
                 self.passtext = self.tk.call('authorize::getAuthPassword')
                 callfunction()
             except:
                 raise

I use this approach to call the method named in the "cmd" parameter 
because I also have to look up a password name that is returned by an 
underlying Tk package that I use in my application (that's the reason 
for the 'self.tk.call'). What is happening is when I use the 
"callfunction()" call, instead of the method name being called, a string 
like this is being invoked:

<bound method phynchronicityApp.scanPackages of 
<__main__.phynchronicityApp instance at 0x101b232d8>>

The "scanPackages" method (just to use it as an example) uses Popen to 
call an underlying system tool on the OS. However, when invoked via 
callfunction(), the 'bound method...' string is passed to the OS instead 
as a command! As a result, I get this output from the pipe:

/bin/sh: bound: No such file or directory

I am not sure what in my application is causing this kind of breakage, 
as earlier versions of the app ran fine with similar code on earlier 
versions on the OS. Is this the correct way to structure this kind of 
functionality, or am I better off structuring it some other way?

--Kevin
-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com