I'm working with Iot on the Intel Galileo with a Yocto image, I have it that a python script will execute 'aplay audio.wav', But I want it to also get the PID of that aplay proccess in case the program will have to stop it. Sorry for being very short and brief.
The pid attribute of the subprocess.Popen object contains its PID, but if you need to terminate the subprocess then you should just use the terminate() method.
You should consider using pyao or pygst/gst-python instead though, if you need finer control over audio.
With Python use:
import os
my_pid = os.getpid()
f_pid = open('/var/run/app.pid', 'w')
f_pid.write(my_pid)
f_pid.close()
But if you are using the play, you're doing syscall() for Python? You can do directly by Shell Script and get the PID easily with:
echo $! > /var/run/$0.pid
You can read the file.pid and send a kill for the PID.
Related
I'm trying to port a shell script to the much more readable python version. The original shell script starts several processes (utilities, monitors, etc.) in the background with "&". How can I achieve the same effect in python? I'd like these processes not to die when the python scripts complete. I am sure it's related to the concept of a daemon somehow, but I couldn't find how to do this easily.
While jkp's solution works, the newer way of doing things (and the way the documentation recommends) is to use the subprocess module. For simple commands its equivalent, but it offers more options if you want to do something complicated.
Example for your case:
import subprocess
subprocess.Popen(["rm","-r","some.file"])
This will run rm -r some.file in the background. Note that calling .communicate() on the object returned from Popen will block until it completes, so don't do that if you want it to run in the background:
import subprocess
ls_output=subprocess.Popen(["sleep", "30"])
ls_output.communicate() # Will block for 30 seconds
See the documentation here.
Also, a point of clarification: "Background" as you use it here is purely a shell concept; technically, what you mean is that you want to spawn a process without blocking while you wait for it to complete. However, I've used "background" here to refer to shell-background-like behavior.
Note: This answer is less current than it was when posted in 2009. Using the subprocess module shown in other answers is now recommended in the docs
(Note that the subprocess module provides more powerful facilities for spawning new processes and retrieving their results; using that module is preferable to using these functions.)
If you want your process to start in the background you can either use system() and call it in the same way your shell script did, or you can spawn it:
import os
os.spawnl(os.P_DETACH, 'some_long_running_command')
(or, alternatively, you may try the less portable os.P_NOWAIT flag).
See the documentation here.
You probably want the answer to "How to call an external command in Python".
The simplest approach is to use the os.system function, e.g.:
import os
os.system("some_command &")
Basically, whatever you pass to the system function will be executed the same as if you'd passed it to the shell in a script.
I found this here:
On windows (win xp), the parent process will not finish until the longtask.py has finished its work. It is not what you want in CGI-script. The problem is not specific to Python, in PHP community the problems are the same.
The solution is to pass DETACHED_PROCESS Process Creation Flag to the underlying CreateProcess function in win API. If you happen to have installed pywin32 you can import the flag from the win32process module, otherwise you should define it yourself:
DETACHED_PROCESS = 0x00000008
pid = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "longtask.py"],
creationflags=DETACHED_PROCESS).pid
Use subprocess.Popen() with the close_fds=True parameter, which will allow the spawned subprocess to be detached from the Python process itself and continue running even after Python exits.
https://gist.github.com/yinjimmy/d6ad0742d03d54518e9f
import os, time, sys, subprocess
if len(sys.argv) == 2:
time.sleep(5)
print 'track end'
if sys.platform == 'darwin':
subprocess.Popen(['say', 'hello'])
else:
print 'main begin'
subprocess.Popen(['python', os.path.realpath(__file__), '0'], close_fds=True)
print 'main end'
Both capture output and run on background with threading
As mentioned on this answer, if you capture the output with stdout= and then try to read(), then the process blocks.
However, there are cases where you need this. For example, I wanted to launch two processes that talk over a port between them, and save their stdout to a log file and stdout.
The threading module allows us to do that.
First, have a look at how to do the output redirection part alone in this question: Python Popen: Write to stdout AND log file simultaneously
Then:
main.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import subprocess
import sys
import threading
def output_reader(proc, file):
while True:
byte = proc.stdout.read(1)
if byte:
sys.stdout.buffer.write(byte)
sys.stdout.flush()
file.buffer.write(byte)
else:
break
with subprocess.Popen(['./sleep.py', '0'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE) as proc1, \
subprocess.Popen(['./sleep.py', '10'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE) as proc2, \
open('log1.log', 'w') as file1, \
open('log2.log', 'w') as file2:
t1 = threading.Thread(target=output_reader, args=(proc1, file1))
t2 = threading.Thread(target=output_reader, args=(proc2, file2))
t1.start()
t2.start()
t1.join()
t2.join()
sleep.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import sys
import time
for i in range(4):
print(i + int(sys.argv[1]))
sys.stdout.flush()
time.sleep(0.5)
After running:
./main.py
stdout get updated every 0.5 seconds for every two lines to contain:
0
10
1
11
2
12
3
13
and each log file contains the respective log for a given process.
Inspired by: https://eli.thegreenplace.net/2017/interacting-with-a-long-running-child-process-in-python/
Tested on Ubuntu 18.04, Python 3.6.7.
You probably want to start investigating the os module for forking different threads (by opening an interactive session and issuing help(os)). The relevant functions are fork and any of the exec ones. To give you an idea on how to start, put something like this in a function that performs the fork (the function needs to take a list or tuple 'args' as an argument that contains the program's name and its parameters; you may also want to define stdin, out and err for the new thread):
try:
pid = os.fork()
except OSError, e:
## some debug output
sys.exit(1)
if pid == 0:
## eventually use os.putenv(..) to set environment variables
## os.execv strips of args[0] for the arguments
os.execv(args[0], args)
You can use
import os
pid = os.fork()
if pid == 0:
Continue to other code ...
This will make the python process run in background.
I haven't tried this yet but using .pyw files instead of .py files should help. pyw files dosen't have a console so in theory it should not appear and work like a background process.
I've got a long running python script that I want to be able to end from another python script. Ideally what I'm looking for is some way of setting a process ID to the first script and being able to see if it is running or not via that ID from the second. Additionally, I'd like to be able to terminate that long running process.
Any cool shortcuts exist to make this happen?
Also, I'm working in a Windows environment.
I just recently found an alternative answer here: Check to see if python script is running
You could get your own PID (Process Identifier) through
import os
os.getpid()
and to kill a process in Unix
import os, signal
os.kill(5383, signal.SIGKILL)
to kill in Windows use
import subprocess as s
def killProcess(pid):
s.Popen('taskkill /F /PID {0}'.format(pid), shell=True)
You can send the PID to the other programm or you could search in the process-list to find the name of the other script and kill it with the above script.
I hope that helps you.
You're looking for the subprocess module.
import subprocess as sp
extProc = sp.Popen(['python','myPyScript.py']) # runs myPyScript.py
status = sp.Popen.poll(extProc) # status should be 'None'
sp.Popen.terminate(extProc) # closes the process
status = sp.Popen.poll(extProc) # status should now be something other than 'None' ('1' in my testing)
subprocess.Popen starts the external python script, equivalent to typing 'python myPyScript.py' in a console or terminal.
The status from subprocess.Popen.poll(extProc) will be 'None' if the process is still running, and (for me) 1 if it has been closed from within this script. Not sure about what the status is if it has been closed another way.
This worked for me under windows 11 and PyQt5:
subprocess.Popen('python3 MySecondApp.py')
Popen.terminate(app)
where app is MyFirstApp.py (the caller script, running) and MySecondApp.py (the called script)
I have a Python script that runs all day long checking time every 60 seconds so it can start/end tasks (other python scripts) at specific periods of the day.
This script is running almost all ok. Tasks are starting at the right time and being open over a new cmd window so the main script can keep running and sampling the time. The only problem is that it just won't kill the tasks.
import os
import time
import signal
import subprocess
import ctypes
freq = 60 # sampling frequency in seconds
while True:
print 'Sampling time...'
now = int(time.time())
#initialize the task.. lets say 8:30am
if ( time.strftime("%H:%M", time.localtime(now)) == '08:30'):
# The following method is used so python opens another cmd window and keeps original script running and sampling time
pro = subprocess.Popen(["start", "cmd", "/k", "python python-task.py"], shell=True)
# kill process attempts.. lets say 11:40am
if ( time.strftime("%H:%M", time.localtime(now)) == '11:40'):
pro.kill() #not working - nothing happens
pro.terminate() #not working - nothing happens
os.kill(pro.pid, signal.SIGINT) #not working - windows error 5 access denied
# Kill the process using ctypes - not working - nothing happens
ctypes.windll.kernel32.TerminateProcess(int(pro._handle), -1)
# Kill process using windows taskkill - nothing happens
os.popen('TASKKILL /PID '+str(pro.pid)+' /F')
time.sleep(freq)
Important Note: the task script python-task.py will run indefinitely. That's exactly why I need to be able to "force" kill it at a certain time while it still running.
Any clues? What am I doing wrong? How to kill it?
You're killing the shell that spawns your sub-process, not your sub-process.
Edit: From the documentation:
The only time you need to specify shell=True on Windows is when the command you wish to execute is built into the shell (e.g. dir or copy). You do not need shell=True to run a batch file or console-based executable.
Warning
Passing shell=True can be a security hazard if combined with untrusted input. See the warning under Frequently Used Arguments for details.
So, instead of passing a single string, pass each argument separately in the list, and eschew using the shell. You probably want to use the same executable for the child as for the parent, so it's usually something like:
pro = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "python-task.py"])
Under Linux Ubuntu operating system, I run the test.py scrip which contain a GObject loop using subprocess by:
subprocess.call(["test.py"])
Now, this test.py will creat process. Is there a way to kill this process in Python?
Note: I don't know the process ID.
I am sorry if I didn't explain my problem very clearly as I am new to this forms and new to python in general.
I would suggest not to use subprocess.call but construct a Popen object and use its API: http://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#popen-objects
In particular:
http://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.Popen.terminate
HTH!
subprocess.call() is just subprocess.Popen().wait():
from subprocess import Popen
from threading import Timer
p = Popen(["command", "arg1"])
print(p.pid) # you can save pid to a file to use it outside Python
# do something else..
# now ask the command to exit
p.terminate()
terminator = Timer(5, p.kill) # give it 5 seconds to exit; then kill it
terminator.start()
p.wait()
terminator.cancel() # the child process exited, cancel the hit
subprocess.call waits for the process to be completed and returns the exit code (integer) value , hence there is no way of knowing the process id of the child process. YOu should consider using subprocess.Popen which forks() child process.
I am in Windows and Suppose I have a main python code that calls python interpreter in command line to execute another python script ,say test.py .
So test.py is executed as a new process.How can I find the processId for this porcess in Python ?
Update:
To be more specific , we have os.getpid() in os module. It returns the current process id.
If I have a main program that runs Python interpreter to run another script , how can I get the process Id for that executing script ?
If you used subprocess to spawn the shell, you can find the process ID in the pid property:
sp = subprocess.Popen(['python', 'script.py'])
print('PID is ' + str(sp.pid))
If you used multiprocessing, use its pid property:
p = multiprocessing.Process()
p.start()
# Some time later ...
print('PID is ' + str(p.pid))
It all depends on how you're launching the second process.
If you're using os.system or similar, that call won't report back anything useful about the child process's pid. One option is to have your 2nd script communicate the result of os.getpid() back to the original process via stdin/stdout, or write it to a predetermined file location. Another alternative is to use the third-party psutil library to figure out which process it is.
On the other hand, if you're using the subprocess module to launch the script, the resulting "popen" object has an attribute popen.pid which will give you the process id.
You will receive the process ID of the newly created process when you create it. At least, you will if you used fork() (Unix), posix_spawn(), CreateProcess() (Win32) or probably any other reasonable mechanism to create it.
If you invoke the "python" binary, the python PID will be the PID of this binary that you invoke. It's not going to create another subprocess for itself (Unless your python code does that).
Another option is that the process you execute will set a console window title for himself.
And the searching process will enumerate all windows, find the relevant window handle by name and use the handle to find PID. It works on windows using ctypes.