[Python-Dev] SIGPIPE => SIG_IGN?

[Gustavo Niemeyer]

Greetings,


I was wondering, why are we setting SIGPIPE to SIG_IGN
in initsigs():

   static void
   initsigs(void)
   {
   #ifdef SIGPIPE
           PyOS_setsig(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
   #endif
   [...]
   }


One of the side effects is:

   >>> os.system("yes | read any")
   yes: standard output: Broken pipe
   yes: write error
   0
   >>> os.system("yes | head -1")
   y
   yes: standard output: Broken pipe
   yes: write error
   0

That stops when setting to SIG_DFL:

   >>> signal.signal(signal.SIGPIPE, signal.SIG_DFL)
   1
   >>> os.system("yes | head -1")
   y
   0
   >>> os.system("yes | read any")
   0

Out of curiosity, many of the google results for
"yes: standard output: Broken pipe" are from
Python programs. :-)


Regards,

-- 
Gustavo Niemeyer
http://niemeyer.net