Issue #12650: Fix a race condition where a subprocess.Popen could leak

resources (FD/zombie) when killed at the wrong time.

Lib/subprocess.py

@@ -429,12 +429,16 @@ def _create_pipe():
 except:
     MAXFD = 256
 
+# This lists holds Popen instances for which the underlying process had not
+# exited at the time its __del__ method got called: those processes are wait()ed
+# for synchronously from _cleanup() when a new Popen object is created, to avoid
+# zombie processes.
 _active = []
 
 def _cleanup():
     for inst in _active[:]:
         res = inst._internal_poll(_deadstate=sys.maxsize)
-        if res is not None and res >= 0:
+        if res is not None:
             try:
                 _active.remove(inst)
             except ValueError:
@@ -1191,6 +1195,7 @@ def _execute_child(self, args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
                                 errread, errwrite,
                                 errpipe_read, errpipe_write,
                                 restore_signals, start_new_session, preexec_fn)
+                        self._child_created = True
                     else:
                         # Pure Python implementation: It is not thread safe.
                         # This implementation may deadlock in the child if your

Lib/test/test_subprocess.py

@@ -1394,6 +1394,64 @@ def test_select_unbuffered(self):
         finally:
             p.wait()
 
+    def test_zombie_fast_process_del(self):
+        # Issue #12650: on Unix, if Popen.__del__() was called before the
+        # process exited, it wouldn't be added to subprocess._active, and would
+        # remain a zombie.
+        # spawn a Popen, and delete its reference before it exits
+        p = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "-c",
+                              'import sys, time;'
+                              'time.sleep(0.2)'],
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        ident = id(p)
+        pid = p.pid
+        del p
+        # check that p is in the active processes list
+        self.assertIn(ident, [id(o) for o in subprocess._active])
+
+        # sleep a little to let the process exit, and create a new Popen: this
+        # should trigger the wait() of p
+        time.sleep(1)
+        with self.assertRaises(EnvironmentError) as c:
+            with subprocess.Popen(['nonexisting_i_hope'],
+                                  stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                  stderr=subprocess.PIPE) as proc:
+                pass
+        # p should have been wait()ed on, and removed from the _active list
+        self.assertRaises(OSError, os.waitpid, pid, 0)
+        self.assertNotIn(ident, [id(o) for o in subprocess._active])
+
+    def test_leak_fast_process_del_killed(self):
+        # Issue #12650: on Unix, if Popen.__del__() was called before the
+        # process exited, and the process got killed by a signal, it would never
+        # be removed from subprocess._active, which triggered a FD and memory
+        # leak.
+        # spawn a Popen, delete its reference and kill it
+        p = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, "-c",
+                              'import time;'
+                              'time.sleep(3)'],
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        ident = id(p)
+        pid = p.pid
+        del p
+        os.kill(pid, signal.SIGKILL)
+        # check that p is in the active processes list
+        self.assertIn(ident, [id(o) for o in subprocess._active])
+
+        # let some time for the process to exit, and create a new Popen: this
+        # should trigger the wait() of p
+        time.sleep(0.2)
+        with self.assertRaises(EnvironmentError) as c:
+            with subprocess.Popen(['nonexisting_i_hope'],
+                                  stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                  stderr=subprocess.PIPE) as proc:
+                pass
+        # p should have been wait()ed on, and removed from the _active list
+        self.assertRaises(OSError, os.waitpid, pid, 0)
+        self.assertNotIn(ident, [id(o) for o in subprocess._active])
+
 
 @unittest.skipUnless(mswindows, "Windows specific tests")
 class Win32ProcessTestCase(BaseTestCase):

Misc/NEWS

@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@ Core and Builtins
 - Issue #12266: Fix str.capitalize() to correctly uppercase/lowercase
   titlecased and cased non-letter characters.
 
+Library
+-------
+
+- Issue #12650: Fix a race condition where a subprocess.Popen could leak
+  resources (FD/zombie) when killed at the wrong time.
 
 What's New in Python 3.2.2?
 ===========================