Question

My understanding is that finally clauses must *always* be executed if the try has been entered.

import random

from multiprocessing import Pool
from time import sleep

def Process(x):
  try:
    print x
    sleep(random.random())
    raise Exception('Exception: ' + x)
  finally:
    print 'Finally: ' + x

Pool(3).map(Process, ['1','2','3'])

Expected output is that for each of x which is printed on its own by line 8, there must be an occurrence of ‘Finally x’.

Example output:

$ python bug.py 
1
2
3
Finally: 2
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "bug.py", line 14, in <module>
    Pool(3).map(Process, ['1','2','3'])
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 225, in map
    return self.map_async(func, iterable, chunksize).get()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 522, in get
    raise self._value
Exception: Exception: 2

It seems that an exception terminating one process terminates the parent and sibling processes, even though there is further work required to be done in other processes.

Why am I wrong? Why is this correct? If this is correct, how should one safely clean up resources in multiprocess Python?

Answer 1

Short answer: SIGTERM trumps finally.

Long answer: Turn on logging with mp.log_to_stderr():

import random
import multiprocessing as mp
import time
import logging

logger=mp.log_to_stderr(logging.DEBUG)

def Process(x):
    try:
        logger.info(x)
        time.sleep(random.random())
        raise Exception('Exception: ' + x)
    finally:
        logger.info('Finally: ' + x)

result=mp.Pool(3).map(Process, ['1','2','3'])

The logging output includes:

[DEBUG/MainProcess] terminating workers

Which corresponds to this code in multiprocessing.pool._terminate_pool:

    if pool and hasattr(pool[0], 'terminate'):
        debug('terminating workers')
        for p in pool:
            p.terminate()

Each p in pool is a multiprocessing.Process, and calling terminate (at least on non-Windows machines) calls SIGTERM:

from multiprocessing/forking.py:

class Popen(object)
    def terminate(self):
        ...
            try:
                os.kill(self.pid, signal.SIGTERM)
            except OSError, e:
                if self.wait(timeout=0.1) is None:
                    raise

So it comes down to what happens when a Python process in a try suite is sent a SIGTERM.

Consider the following example (test.py):

import time    
def worker():
    try:
        time.sleep(100)        
    finally:
        print('enter finally')
        time.sleep(2) 
        print('exit finally')    
worker()

If you run it, then send it a SIGTERM, then the process ends immediately, without entering the finally suite, as evidenced by no output, and no delay.

In one terminal:

% test.py

In second terminal:

% pkill -TERM -f "test.py"

Result in first terminal:

Terminated

Compare that with what happens when the process is sent a SIGINT (C-c):

In second terminal:

% pkill -INT -f "test.py"

Result in first terminal:

enter finally
exit finally
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/unutbu/pybin/test.py", line 14, in <module>
    worker()
  File "/home/unutbu/pybin/test.py", line 8, in worker
    time.sleep(100)        
KeyboardInterrupt

Conclusion: SIGTERM trumps finally.