IDLE fails to start or raises when an editor window's file does not exist
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
IDLE raises an uncaught traceback when a file that is open in the editor is deleted or renamed by another program and the IDLE window is then refocused.
EditorWindow.focus_in_event runs on every <FocusIn> event and calls EditorWindow.last_mtime, which calls os.path.getmtime(self.io.filename) with no error handling. When the open file has been removed or renamed, getmtime raises FileNotFoundError, which escapes the Tk event handler and breaks the modified-on-disk reload check.
Reproduction
Open a file in the IDLE editor, delete or rename it in another program, then click back into the IDLE window. A traceback like this reaches the console and the reload check stops working:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '.../somefile.py'
The same call reproduced without a GUI:
import os, tempfile, types
from idlelib.editor import EditorWindow
with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
path = os.path.join(d, 'gone.py')
open(path, 'w').close()
mtime = os.path.getmtime(path)
os.remove(path)
stub = types.SimpleNamespace(io=types.SimpleNamespace(filename=path), mtime=mtime)
EditorWindow.last_mtime(stub) # raises FileNotFoundError on the main branch
Suggested fix
Guard os.path.getmtime in last_mtime with try/except OSError and return the last known mtime, so focus_in_event sees no change and does not prompt to reload a file that is gone.
CPython versions tested on:
3.16, CPython main branch
Operating systems tested on:
macOS
Linked PRs
- gh-153481
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 in idlelib.editor at EditorWindow.last_mtime and its caller, focus_in_event. Reproduce the missing-file case from the issue, then verify that refocusing IDLE no longer raises and that the reload check does not prompt for a deleted file.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- desktop
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100