Signal handler sometimes not called

Bug report

Below is a program repoducing the issue. Two Python processes P (as Parent) and CH (as child) are exchanging SIGUSR1 signals. One process waits for a signal, the other one sends it. Then they switch the roles and the signal si sent the other way. This is repeated in a loop. After few seconds the loop halts, usually before reaching 1000 iterations (on my computer). I believe that a signal was delivered to the process, but the corresponding handler was not called.

import fcntl, os, subprocess, signal, sys, time

label: str      # either P (parent) or CH (child)

def selfpipe(signo: int) -> int:
    rfd, wfd = os.pipe()
    wflags = fcntl.fcntl(wfd, fcntl.F_GETFL)
    fcntl.fcntl(wfd, fcntl.F_SETFL, wflags | os.O_NONBLOCK)

    msg = f"{label} handler\n".encode('ascii')
    def signal_handler(*_):
        # write() is "async-signal-safe"
        os.write(1, msg)
        os.write(wfd, b"\x00")

    signal.signal(signo, signal_handler)
    return rfd

def main():
    global label

    is_child = sys.argv[1:2] == ["CH"]
    label = "CH:" if is_child else "P:"
    rfd = selfpipe(signal.SIGUSR1)
    if is_child:
        other = os.getppid()
    else:
        child = subprocess.Popen(["python3", sys.argv[0], "CH"])
        other = child.pid

    if is_child:
        # parent starts with wait, child starts with signal
        os.kill(other, signal.SIGUSR1)
    i = 0
    while True:
        print(f"{label} wait")
        os.read(rfd, 1)
        print(f"{label} signal {i}")
        os.kill(other, signal.SIGUSR1)
        time.sleep(0.02)    # reduce CPU load
        i += 1

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Your environment

Linux x86 PC, tested on Python 3.7.14, 3.8.14 and 3.10.7

Notes

• I made a C program exchanging signals the same way and it does not halt

• It is known that if a signal is pending (delivered, but not processed yet), sending another signal of the same type has no effect. That explains "lost" signals in some situations. Tthis cannot be such case, because the next signal comes only after the current signal has been acted upon.

• Despite both processes executing the same loop, the test always hangs with the last signal sent from P to CH, not in the other direction.

CH: handler
CH: wait
CH: signal 521
P: handler
P: wait
P: signal 522  <-- always P (never CH) in my tests
CH: wait
P: wait   <-- last line before halt

• When terminating the test with ctrl-C, the signal handler gets called! That proves the signal was delivered.

^CCH: handler  <--- note the message from the signal handler
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/pp/sigdemo.py", line 44, in <module>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/tmp/pp/sigdemo.py", line 44, in <module>
    main()
  File "/tmp/pp/sigdemo.py", line 37, in main
    main()
  File "/tmp/pp/sigdemo.py", line 37, in main
    os.read(rfd, 1)
KeyboardInterrupt
    os.read(rfd, 1)
KeyboardInterrupt

Eseguire il reproducer fornito attraverso i suoi punti di ingresso selfpipe() e main() sulle versioni di Python e nell’ambiente Linux descritti, quindi confrontarlo con il programma C menzionato nelle note. Tracciare la gestione di SIGUSR1 intorno a os.read(), os.kill() e al gestore dei segnali; il lavoro è completato quando il processo padre e il processo figlio continuano a scambiarsi segnali invece di arrestarsi.