test_httpservers leaves urllib.request._opener installed for the rest of the test run
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 77.2k
- Forks
- 35.9k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
Bug report
Bug description:
test_httpservers installs a process-wide default URL opener and never removes it, so regrtest reports it as altering the execution environment:
Warning -- urllib.requests._opener was modified by test_httpservers
Warning -- Before: None
Warning -- After: <urllib.request.OpenerDirector object at 0x10d5f0f80>
test_httpservers failed (env changed)
Repro on current main, takes a couple of seconds:
./python.exe -m test test_urllib test_httpservers
The leak comes from CommandLineRunTimeTestCase.fetch_file():
def fetch_file(self, path, context=None):
req = urllib.request.Request(path, method='GET')
with urllib.request.urlopen(req, context=context) as res:
return res.read()
context defaults to None, and the plain HTTP tests call it without one. urlopen() only builds a throwaway opener when a context is passed; otherwise it installs the module global:
https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/main/Lib/urllib/request.py#L177-L186
global _opener
if context:
https_handler = HTTPSHandler(context=context)
opener = build_opener(https_handler)
elif _opener is None:
_opener = opener = build_opener()
else:
opener = _opener
So after test_httpservers runs, urllib.request._opener is a live OpenerDirector for the rest of the process, and any later test that goes through urlopen() silently gets it instead of a fresh one.
Why this has not shown up in CI: save_env.py only watches the resource when urllib.request is already imported, since try_get_module() raises SkipTestEnvironment otherwise. Under -j, and when running test_httpservers on its own, the module is not in sys.modules at the point regrtest snapshots the environment, so the resource is never tracked and the leak is invisible. It only appears in a sequential run, after some earlier test has imported urllib.request.
test_urllib already guards against this with self.addCleanup(urllib.request.urlcleanup) in four places, and urlcleanup() resets _opener, so the same one-liner fits here.
CPython versions tested on:
CPython main branch
Operating systems tested on:
macOS
sorry if I've got any of the details wrong here. I traced this myself and used Claude Code as a second pair of eyes on the reasoning, so any mistakes are mine and I'd rather be told than not. college freshman, just trying to be useful where I can :)
Linked PRs
- gh-156032
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 at CommandLineRunTimeTestCase.fetch_file() and compare its cleanup with the four self.addCleanup(urllib.request.urlcleanup) uses in test_urllib. Run ./python.exe -m test test_urllib test_httpservers and confirm that test_httpservers no longer leaves urllib.request._opener installed or triggers the environment-change warning.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- testing-qa
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 1/5
- Estimated time
- Under an hour
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100