On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 4:59 PM, Chris Rebert <c...@rebertia.com> wrote: > On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 4:49 PM, David Brown <dmlb2...@gmail.com> wrote: >> So I'm not subscribed to python-list but would like to get an answer >> to my question. I've made a small test program that dumps a >> RuntimeError and I'd like to know why. >> >> $ python test2.py >> doing stuff >> Traceback (most recent call last): >> File "test2.py", line 3, in <module> >> import test >> RuntimeError: not holding the import lock >> child 3693 exited with 256 >> $ >> >> Here's the setup, there's two files test.py and test2.py >> >> $ cat test.py >> #!/usr/bin/python >> >> import os, sys >> >> if os.fork() == 0: >> print "doing stuff" >> sys.exit() >> >> print "child %d exited with %d" % os.wait() > > It's *quite* strange for a module that's being imported to execute a > fork() in its body; this is almost assuredly the cause of the > RuntimeError. Why are you fork()ing in an importable module in the > first place?
Well, to be specific the fork isn't the cause of the RuntimeError, the sys.exit() causes the runtime error. I agree that forking in a module is bad coding practice and I'm working with the developer to help him understand why that's bad. If that makes sense. However, knowing why sys.exit() is producing a RuntimeError on some versions of python and not others also more interesting a question. Thanks, - David Brown > Cheers, > Chris > -- > http://blog.rebertia.com > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
