Why does multiprocessing not working when opening a file? - python

As I am trying out the multiprocessing pool module, I noticed that it does not work when I am loading / opening any kind of file. The code below works as expected. When I uncomment lines 8-9, the script skips the pool.apply_async method, and loopingTest never runs.
import time
from multiprocessing import Pool
class MultiClass:
def __init__(self):
file = 'test.txt'
# with open(file, 'r') as f: # This is the culprit
# self.d = f
self.n = 50000000
self.cases = ['1st time', '2nd time']
self.multiProc(self.cases)
print("It's done")
def loopingTest(self, cases):
print(f"looping start for {cases}")
n = self.n
while n > 0:
n -= 1
print(f"looping done for {cases}")
def multiProc(self, cases):
test = False
pool = Pool(processes=2)
if not test:
for i in cases:
pool.apply_async(self.loopingTest, (i,))
pool.close()
pool.join()
if __name__ == '__main__':
start = time.time()
w = MultiClass()
end = time.time()
print(f'Script finished in {end - start} seconds')

You see this behavior because calling apply_async fails when you save the file descriptor (self.d) to your instance. When you call apply_async(self.loopingTest, ...), Python needs to pickle self.loopingTest to send it to the worker process, which also requires pickling self. When you have the open file descriptor saved as a property of self, the pickling fails, because file descriptors can't be pickled. You'll see this for yourself if you use apply instead of apply_async in your sample code. You'll get an error like this:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "a.py", line 36, in <module>
w = MultiClass()
File "a.py", line 12, in __init__
self.multiProc(self.cases)
File "a.py", line 28, in multiProc
out.get()
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 644, in get
raise self._value
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 424, in _handle_tasks
put(task)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/connection.py", line 206, in send
self._send_bytes(_ForkingPickler.dumps(obj))
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/reduction.py", line 51, in dumps
cls(buf, protocol).dump(obj)
TypeError: cannot serialize '_io.TextIOWrapper' object
You need to change your code either avoiding saving the file descriptor to self, only create it in the worker method (if that's where you need to use it), or by using the tools Python provides to control the pickle/unpickle process for your class. Depending on the use-case, you can also turn the method you're passing to apply_async into a top-level function, so that self doesn't need to be pickled at all.

Related

pyserial with multiprocessing gives me a ctype error

Hi I'm trying to write a module that lets me read and send data via pyserial. I have to be able to read the data in parallel to my main script. With the help of a stackoverflow user, I have a basic and working skeleton of the program, but when I tried adding a class I created that uses pyserial (handles finding port, speed, etc) found here I get the following error:
File "<ipython-input-1-830fa23bc600>", line 1, in <module>
runfile('C:.../pythonInterface1/Main.py', wdir='C:/Users/Daniel.000/Desktop/Daniel/Python/pythonInterface1')
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\spyder_kernels\customize\spydercustomize.py", line 827, in runfile
execfile(filename, namespace)
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\spyder_kernels\customize\spydercustomize.py", line 110, in execfile
exec(compile(f.read(), filename, 'exec'), namespace)
File "C:/Users/Daniel.000/Desktop/Daniel/Python/pythonInterface1/Main.py", line 39, in <module>
p.start()
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\multiprocessing\process.py", line 112, in start
self._popen = self._Popen(self)
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\multiprocessing\context.py", line 223, in _Popen
return _default_context.get_context().Process._Popen(process_obj)
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\multiprocessing\context.py", line 322, in _Popen
return Popen(process_obj)
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\multiprocessing\popen_spawn_win32.py", line 89, in __init__
reduction.dump(process_obj, to_child)
File "C:...\Anaconda3\lib\multiprocessing\reduction.py", line 60, in dump
ForkingPickler(file, protocol).dump(obj)
ValueError: ctypes objects containing pointers cannot be pickled
This is the code I am using to call the class in SerialConnection.py
import multiprocessing
from time import sleep
from operator import methodcaller
from SerialConnection import SerialConnection as SC
class Spawn:
def __init__(self, _number, _max):
self._number = _number
self._max = _max
# Don't call update here
def request(self, x):
print("{} was requested.".format(x))
def update(self):
while True:
print("Spawned {} of {}".format(self._number, self._max))
sleep(2)
if __name__ == '__main__':
'''
spawn = Spawn(1, 1) # Create the object as normal
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=methodcaller("update"), args=(spawn,)) # Run the loop in the process
p.start()
while True:
sleep(1.5)
spawn.request(2) # Now you can reference the "spawn"
'''
device = SC()
print(device.Port)
print(device.Baud)
print(device.ID)
print(device.Error)
print(device.EMsg)
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=methodcaller("ReadData"), args=(device,)) # Run the loop in the process
p.start()
while True:
sleep(1.5)
device.SendData('0003')
What am I doing wrong for this class to be giving me problems? Is there some form of restriction to use pyserial and multiprocessing together? I know it can be done but I don't understand how...
here is the traceback i get from python
Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:...\Python\pythonInterface1\Main.py", line 45, in <module>
p.start()
File "C:...\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\multiprocessing\process.py", line 105, in start
self._popen = self._Popen(self)
File "C:...\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\multiprocessing\context.py", line 223, in _Popen
return _default_context.get_context().Process._Popen(process_obj)
File "C:...\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\multiprocessing\context.py", line 322, in _Popen
return Popen(process_obj)
File "C:...\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\multiprocessing\popen_spawn_win32.py", line 65, in __init__
reduction.dump(process_obj, to_child)
File "C:...\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python36-32\lib\multiprocessing\reduction.py", line 60, in dump
ForkingPickler(file, protocol).dump(obj) ValueError: ctypes objects containing pointers cannot be pickled
You are trying to pass a SerialConnection instance to another process as an argument. For that python has first to serialize (pickle) the object, and it is not possible for SerialConnection objects.
As said in Rob Streeting's answer, a possible solution would be to allow the SerialConnection object to be copied to the other process' memory using the fork that occurs when multiprocessing.Process.start is invoked, but this will not work on Windows as it does not use fork.
A simpler, cross-platform and more efficient way to achieve parallelism in your code would be to use a thread instead of a process. The changes to your code are minimal:
import threading
p = threading.Thread(target=methodcaller("ReadData"), args=(device,))
I think the problem is due to something inside device being unpicklable (i.e., not serializable by python). Take a look at this page to see if you can see any rules that may be broken by something in your device object.
So why does device need to be picklable at all?
When a multiprocessing.Process is started, it uses fork() at the operating system level (unless otherwise specified) to create the new process. What this means is that the whole context of the parent process is "copied" over to the child. This does not require pickling, as it's done at the operating system level.
(Note: On unix at least, this "copy" is actually a pretty cheap operation because it used a feature called "copy-on-write". This means that both parent and child processes actually read from the same memory until one or the other modifies it, at which point the original state is copied over to the child process.)
However, the arguments of the function that you want the process to take care of do have to be pickled, because they are not part of the main process's context. So, that includes your device variable.
I think you might be able to resolve your issue by allowing device to be copied as part of the fork operation rather than passing it in as a variable. To do this though, you'll need a wrapper function around the operation you want your process to do, in this case methodcaller("ReadData"). Something like this:
if __name__ == "__main__":
device = SC()
def call_read_data():
device.ReadData()
...
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=call_read_data) # Run the loop in the process
p.start()

Error group argument must be None for now in multiprocessing.pool

Below is my python script.
import multiprocessing
# We must import this explicitly, it is not imported by the top-level
# multiprocessing module.
import multiprocessing.pool
import time
from random import randint
class NoDaemonProcess(multiprocessing.Process):
# make 'daemon' attribute always return False
def _get_daemon(self):
return False
def _set_daemon(self, value):
pass
daemon = property(_get_daemon, _set_daemon)
# We sub-class multiprocessing.pool.Pool instead of multiprocessing.Pool
# because the latter is only a wrapper function, not a proper class.
class MyPool(multiprocessing.pool.Pool):
Process = NoDaemonProcess
def sleepawhile(t):
print("Sleeping %i seconds..." % t)
time.sleep(t)
return t
def work(num_procs):
print("Creating %i (daemon) workers and jobs in child." % num_procs)
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(num_procs)
result = pool.map(sleepawhile,
[randint(1, 5) for x in range(num_procs)])
# The following is not really needed, since the (daemon) workers of the
# child's pool are killed when the child is terminated, but it's good
# practice to cleanup after ourselves anyway.
pool.close()
pool.join()
return result
def test():
print("Creating 5 (non-daemon) workers and jobs in main process.")
pool = MyPool(20)
result = pool.map(work, [randint(1, 5) for x in range(5)])
pool.close()
pool.join()
print(result)
if __name__ == '__main__':
test()
This is running in ubuntu server and i'm using python 3.6.7
I had this working properly after apt-get upgrade Im getting error as
group argument must be None for now
What might be the error that I'm facing.
Should i change the python version. Should I roll back the changes after upgrading.
EDIT 1
Stacktrace exception:-
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/mainapp.py", line 104, in bulkfun
p = MyPool(20)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 175, in __init__
self._repopulate_pool()
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 236, in _repopulate_pool
self._wrap_exception)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 250, in _repopulate_pool_static
wrap_exception)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/process.py", line 73, in __init__
assert group is None, 'group argument must be None for now'
AssertionError: group argument must be None for now
EDIT 2
The code works for python2.7, python3.5
But if i run with python 3.6.7 i got the error as below.
Creating 5 (non-daemon) workers and jobs in main process.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "multi.py", line 52, in <module>
test()
File "multi.py", line 43, in test
pool = MyPool(5)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 175, in __init__
self._repopulate_pool()
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 236, in _repopulate_pool
self._wrap_exception)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 250, in _repopulate_pool_static
wrap_exception)
File "/usr/lib/python3.6/multiprocessing/process.py", line 73, in __init__
assert group is None, 'group argument must be None for now'
AssertionError: group argument must be None for now
I came across to this issue while upgrading Travis distribution from 14.04 to 16.04 and python 3.6 started to fail. I have found a solution to this problem as it was a fix to another package - FIX: Python 2.7-3.7.1 compatible NonDaemonPool
class NonDaemonPool(multiprocessing.pool.Pool):
def Process(self, *args, **kwds):
proc = super(NonDaemonPool, self).Process(*args, **kwds)
class NonDaemonProcess(proc.__class__):
"""Monkey-patch process to ensure it is never daemonized"""
#property
def daemon(self):
return False
#daemon.setter
def daemon(self, val):
pass
proc.__class__ = NonDaemonProcess
return proc
same here.
This code worked in my case (python 3.6.7). (https://stackoverflow.com/a/53180921/10742388)
class NoDaemonProcess(multiprocessing.Process):
#property
def daemon(self):
return False
#daemon.setter
def daemon(self, value):
pass
class NoDaemonContext(type(multiprocessing.get_context())):
Process = NoDaemonProcess
# We sub-class multiprocessing.pool.Pool instead of multiprocessing.Pool
# because the latter is only a wrapper function, not a proper class.
class MyPool(multiprocessing.pool.Pool):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
kwargs['context'] = NoDaemonContext()
super(MyPool, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
I think this problem comes from the change of process.py (https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/8ca0fa9d2f4de6e69f0902790432e0ab2f37ba68/Lib/multiprocessing/process.py#L189)

python tempfile and multiprocessing pool error

I'm experimenting with python's multiprocessing. I struggled with a bug in my code and managed to narrow it down. However, I still don't know why this happens. What I'm posting is just sample code. If I import tempfile module and change tempdir, the code crashes at pool creation. I'm using python 2.7.5
Here's the code
from multiprocessing import Pool
import tempfile
tempfile.tempdir = "R:/" #REMOVING THIS LINE FIXES THE ERROR
def f(x):
return x*x
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = Pool(processes=4) # start 4 worker processes
result = pool.apply_async(f, [10]) # evaluate "f(10)" asynchronously
print result.get(timeout=1) # prints "100" unless your computer is *very* slow
print pool.map(f, range(10)) # prints "[0, 1, 4,..., 81]"
Here's error
R:\>mp_pool_test.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "R:\mp_pool_test.py", line 11, in <module>
pool = Pool(processes=4) # start 4 worker processes
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\__init__.py", line 232, in Pool
return Pool(processes, initializer, initargs, maxtasksperchild)
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\pool.py", line 138, in __init__
self._setup_queues()
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\pool.py", line 233, in _setup_queues
self._inqueue = SimpleQueue()
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\queues.py", line 351, in __init__
self._reader, self._writer = Pipe(duplex=False)
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\__init__.py", line 107, in Pipe
return Pipe(duplex)
File "C:\Python27\lib\multiprocessing\connection.py", line 223, in Pipe
1, obsize, ibsize, win32.NMPWAIT_WAIT_FOREVER, win32.NULL
WindowsError: [Error 123] The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect
This code works fine.
from multiprocessing import Pool
import tempfile as TF
TF.tempdir = "R:/"
def f(x):
return x*x
if __name__ == '__main__':
print("test")
The bizarre thing is that, both times I don't do anything with TF.tempdir, but the one with the Pool doesn't work for some reason.
It is cool it looks like you have a name collision from what I can see in
"C:\Program Files\PYTHON\Lib\multiprocessing\connection.py"
It seems that multipprocessing is using tempfile as well
That behavior should not happen but it looks to me like the problem is in line 66 of connection.py
elif family == 'AF_PIPE':
return tempfile.mktemp(prefix=r'\\.\pipe\pyc-%d-%d-' %
(os.getpid(), _mmap_counter.next()))
I am still poking at this, I looked at globals after importing tempfile and then tempfile as TF, different names exist but now I am wondering about references, and so am trying to figure out if they point to the same thing.

Why would it throws "'module' object has no attribute XXX" error when I call on apply_async from multiprocessing.Pool?

The code is as below. When I copy-and-paste it in my cmd prompt, it throws 'module' object has no attribute 'func', but when I save it as a .py file and execute python test.py, it just works fine.
import multiprocessing
import time
def func(msg):
for i in xrange(3):
print msg
time.sleep(1)
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=4)
for i in xrange(5):
msg = "hello %d" %(i)
pool.apply_async(func, (msg, ))
pool.close()
pool.join()
print "Sub-process(es) done."
Could anyone give me an explanation on the difference between in prompt and in file when running a python code? Thanks a lot!
This is happening because on Windows, func needs to be pickled and sent to the child process via IPC. In order for the child to unpickle func, it needs to be able to import it from the parent's __main__ module. When this happens in a normal Python script, the child can re-import your script, and __main__ will contain all the functions declared at the top-level of your script, so it works fine. However, in the interactive interpreter, functions you've defined while in the interpreter can't simply be re-imported from a file like in a normal script, so they will not be in __main__ in the child. This is more clear if you use multiprocessing.Process directly to recreate the issue:
>>> def f():
... print "HI"
...
>>> import multiprocessing
>>> p = multiprocessing.Process(target=f)
>>> p.start()
>>> Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "C:\python27\lib\multiprocessing\forking.py", line 381, in main
self = load(from_parent)
File "C:\python27\lib\pickle.py", line 1378, in load
return Unpickler(file).load()
File "C:\python27\lib\pickle.py", line 858, in load
dispatch[key](self)
File "C:\python27\lib\pickle.py", line 1090, in load_global
klass = self.find_class(module, name)
File "C:\python27\lib\pickle.py", line 1126, in find_class
klass = getattr(mod, name)
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'f'
This way, it's more clear that pickle can't find the module. If you add some tracing to pickle.py you can see that 'module' is referring to __main__:
def load_global(self):
module = self.readline()[:-1]
name = self.readline()[:-1]
print("module {} name {}".format(module, name)) # I added this.
klass = self.find_class(module, name)
self.append(klass)
Rrerunning the same code again with that extra print statement yields this:
module multiprocessing.process name Process
module __main__ name f
< same traceback as before>
It's worth noting that this example actually works fine on Posix platforms, because os.fork() is used to spawn the child processes, which means that any function defined prior to the Pool being created will be available in the child's __main__ module. So, while the above example will work, this one will still fail, because the worker function is defined after creating the Pool (which means after os.fork() is called):
>>> import multiprocessing
>>> p = multiprocessing.Pool(2)
>>> def f(a):
... print(a)
...
>>> p.apply(f, "hi")
Process PoolWorker-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/multiprocessing/process.py", line 231, in _bootstrap
self.run()
File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/multiprocessing/process.py", line 88, in run
self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/multiprocessing/pool.py", line 57, in worker
task = get()
File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/multiprocessing/queues.py", line 339, in get
return recv()
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'f'

Storing a process object in multiprocessing Manager.dict()

I have created this sample program to generalize the issue i am facing
import multiprocessing
from multiprocessing import Manager
def f (_print):
print _print
manager = multiprocessing.Manager()
dict = manager.dict()
dict['process_obj'] = multiprocessing.current_process()
print dict
if __name__ == '__main__':
process = multiprocessing.Process(target=f, args= ('hello function', ))
process.start()
process.join()
So how do I store a process object in multiprocessing Manager.dict()?
I assume you're talking about getting this error:
hello function
Process Process-1:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/process.py", line 258, in _bootstrap
self.run()
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/process.py", line 114, in run
self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
File "mp2.py", line 8, in f
dict['process_obj'] = multiprocessing.current_process()
File "<string>", line 2, in __setitem__
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/managers.py", line 758, in _callmethod
conn.send((self._id, methodname, args, kwds))
PicklingError: Can't pickle <type 'instancemethod'>: attribute lookup __builtin__.instancemethod failed
(it's generally a good idea to include "what I got" and "what I expected to get instead" in the question).
The fundamental problem here is that multiprocessing.current_process() returns an instance method. Instance methods don't pickle properly, and multiprocessing has to save (pickle) and load (unpickle) shared data items to communicate their values from one process to another. See, e.g., Can't pickle <type 'instancemethod'> when using python's multiprocessing Pool.map() and Overcoming Python's limitations regarding instance methods. Note in particular one of the answers in the second: it might be better to figure out some state to send/share, rather than an entire instance. For instance, if the ident of a process suffices, you can do this:
dict['process_obj'] = multiprocessing.current_process().ident
which works fine.

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