xml.dom.pulldom.DOMEventStream leaks file handles opened by parse()
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Description
pulldom.parse() opens a file when called with a filename string, but the resulting DOMEventStream never closes it. The class has no close() method, no context manager support, and clear() just sets self.stream = None without closing.
This produces ResourceWarning: unclosed file and can lead to file descriptor exhaustion in long-running processes.
The documentation example at https://docs.python.org/3/library/xml.dom.pulldom.html#module-xml.dom.pulldom shows:
doc = pulldom.parse('sales_items.xml')
for event, node in doc:
...
— with no cleanup, so users following the docs will hit this.
Reproduction
import warnings, tempfile, os, gc
from xml.dom import pulldom
warnings.simplefilter('always', ResourceWarning)
fd, path = tempfile.mkstemp(suffix='.xml')
os.write(fd, b'<root><item>test</item></root>')
os.close(fd)
events = pulldom.parse(path)
for event, node in events:
pass
# stream is still open after full iteration
print(f'stream.closed: {events.stream.closed}') # False
# clear() doesn't close it either
events.clear()
del events
gc.collect() # ResourceWarning: unclosed file ...
os.unlink(path)
The existing test in test_pulldom.py already works around this with self.addCleanup(handler.stream.close) (line 36), which further confirms the leak.
Suggested fix
Track whether parse() opened the file (vs. receiving a user-provided stream), then add close(), __enter__/__exit__, and __del__ with ResourceWarning to DOMEventStream. Update clear() to close owned streams.
This follows the same approach used for ElementTree.iterparse() (gh-140601).
Linked PRs
- gh-148437
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with DOMEventStream and pulldom.parse(), then inspect test_pulldom.py, especially the existing cleanup around line 36. Reproduce the ResourceWarning and verify ownership behavior for filename and user-provided streams. Done means the lifecycle cleanup and context-manager behavior are covered by tests without leaking handles.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100