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Multiprocessing only using a single thread instead of multiple

This question has been asked and solved a few times recently but I have quite a specific example...
I have a multiprocessing function that was working absolutely fine in complete isolation yesterday (in an interactive notebook), however, I decided to parameterise so I can call it as part of a larger pipeline & for abstraction/cleaner notebook and now it's only using a single thread instead of 6.
import pandas as pd
import multiprocessing as mp
from multiprocessing import get_context
mp.set_start_method('forkserver')
def multiprocess_function(func, iterator, input_data):
result_list = []
def append_result(result):
result_list.append(result)
with get_context('fork').Pool(processes=6) as pool:
for i in iterator:
pool.apply_async(func, args = (i, input_data), callback = append_result)
pool.close()
pool.join()
return result_list
multiprocess_function(count_live, run_weeks, base_df)
My previous version of the code executed differently, instead of a return / call I was using the following at the bottom of the function (which doesn't work at all now I've parameterised - even with the args assigned)
if __name__ == '__main__':
multiprocess_function()
The function executes fine, just only operates across one thread as per the output in top.
Apologies if this is something incredibly simple - I'm not a programmer, I'm an analyst :)
edit: everything works absolutely fine if I include the if__name__ =='main': etc at the bottom of the function and execute the cell, however, when I do this I have to remove the parameters - maybe just something to do with scoping. If I execute by calling the function, whether it is parameterised or not, it only operates on a single thread.

You've got two problems:
You're not using an import guard.
You're not setting the default start method inside the import guard.
Between the two of them, you end up telling Python to spawn the forkserver inside the forkserver, which can only cause you grief. Change the structure of your code to:
import pandas as pd
import multiprocessing as mp
from multiprocessing import get_context
def multiprocess_function(func, iterator, input_data):
result_list = []
with get_context('fork').Pool(processes=6) as pool:
for i in iterator:
pool.apply_async(func, args=(i, input_data), callback=result_list.append)
pool.close()
pool.join()
return result_list
if __name__ == '__main__':
mp.set_start_method('forkserver')
multiprocess_function(count_live, run_weeks, base_df)
Since you didn't show where you got count_live, run_weeks and base_df from, I'll just say that for the code as written, they should be defined in the guarded section (since nothing relies on them as a global).
There are other improvements to be made (apply_async is being used in a way that makes me thing you really just wanted to listify the result of pool.imap_unordered, without the explicit loop), but that's fixing the big issues that will wreck use of spawn or forkserver start methods.

using "get_context('spawn') " instead of "get_context('fork')" maybe will solve your problem

Very basic multiprocessing example with pool.apply() never calls function or terminates

I am trying to set up the very basic example of multiprocessing below. However, the execution only prints here and <_MainProcess(MainProcess, started)> and pool.apply() never even calls the function cube(). Instead, the execution just keeps running indefinitely without termination.
import multiprocessing as mp
def cube(x):
print('in function')
return x**3
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = mp.Pool(processes=4)
print('here')
print(mp.current_process())
results = [pool.apply(cube, args=(x,)) for x in range(1,7)]
print('now here')
pool.close()
pool.join()
print(results)
I have tried various other basic examples including pool.map() but keep running into the same problem. I am using Python 3.7 on Windows 10. Since I am out of ideas, does anybody know what is wrong here or how I can debug this further?
Thanks!

Thank you, upgrading to Python 3.7.3 solved the issue.

Is it possible to use multiprocessing in a module with windows?

I'm currently going through some pre-existing code with the goal of speeding it up. There's a few places that are extremely good candidates for parallelization. Since Python has the GIL, I thought I'd use the multiprocess module.
However from my understanding the only way this will work on windows is if I call the function that needs multiple processes from the highest-level script with the if __name__=='__main__' safeguard. However, this particular program was meant to be distributed and imported as a module, so it'd be kind of clunky to have the user copy and paste that safeguard and is something I'd really like to avoid doing.
Am I out of luck or misunderstanding something as far as multiprocessing goes? Or is there any other way to do it with Windows?

For everyone still searching:
inside module
from multiprocessing import Process
def printing(a):
print(a)
def foo(name):
var={"process":{}}
if name == "__main__":
for i in range(10):
var["process"][i] = Process(target=printing , args=(str(i)))
var["process"][i].start()
for i in range(10):
var["process"][i].join
inside main.py
import data
name = __name__
data.foo(name)
output:
>>2
>>6
>>0
>>4
>>8
>>3
>>1
>>9
>>5
>>7
I am a complete noob so please don't judge the coding OR presentation but at least it works.

As explained in comments, perhaps you could do something like
#client_main.py
from mylib.mpSentinel import MPSentinel
#client logic
if __name__ == "__main__":
MPSentinel.As_master()
#mpsentinel.py
class MPSentinel(object):
_is_master = False
#classmethod
def As_master(cls):
cls._is_master = True
#classmethod
def Is_master(cls):
return cls._is_master
It's not ideal in that it's effectively a singleton/global but it would work around window's lack of fork. Still you could use MPSentinel.Is_master() to use multiprocessing optionally and it should prevent Windows from process bombing.

On ms-windows, you should be able to import the main module of a program without side effects like starting a process.
When Python imports a module, it actually runs it.
So one way of doing that is in the if __name__ is '__main__' block.
Another way is to do it from within a function.
The following won't work on ms-windows:
from multiprocessing import Process
def foo():
print('hello')
p = Process(target=foo)
p.start()
This is because it tries to start a process when importing the module.
The following example from the programming guidelines is OK:
from multiprocessing import Process, freeze_support, set_start_method
def foo():
print('hello')
if __name__ == '__main__':
freeze_support()
set_start_method('spawn')
p = Process(target=foo)
p.start()
Because the code in the if block doesn't run when the module is imported.
But putting it in a function should also work:
from multiprocessing import Process
def foo():
print('hello')
def bar()
p = Process(target=foo)
p.start()
When this module is run, it will define two new functions, not run then.

i've been developing an instagram images scraper so in order to get the download & save operations run faster i've implemented multiprocesing in one auxiliary module, note that this code it's inside an auxiliary module and not inside the main module.
The solution I found is adding this line:
if __name__ != '__main__':
pretty simple but it's actually working!
def multi_proces(urls, profile):
img_saved = 0
if __name__ != '__main__': # line needed for the sake of getting this NOT to crash
processes = []
for url in urls:
try:
process = multiprocessing.Process(target=download_save, args=[url, profile, img_saved])
processes.append(process)
img_saved += 1
except:
continue
for proce in processes:
proce.start()
for proce in processes:
proce.join()
return img_saved
def download_save(url, profile,img_saved):
file = requests.get(url, allow_redirects=True) # Download
open(f"scraped_data\{profile}\{profile}-{img_saved}.jpg", 'wb').write(file.content) # Save

multiprocessing.Pool in jupyter notebook works on linux but not windows

I'm trying to run a few independent computations (though reading from the same data). My code works when I run it on Ubuntu, but not on Windows (windows server 2012 R2), where I get the error:
'module' object has no attribute ...
when I try to use multiprocessing.Pool (it appears in the kernel console, not as output in the notebook itself)
(And I've already made the mistake of defining the function AFTER creating the pool, and I've also corrected it, that's not the problem).
This happens even on the simplest of examples:
from multiprocessing import Pool
def f(x):
return x**2
pool = Pool(4)
for res in pool.map(f,range(20)):
print res
I know that it needs to be able to import the module (and I have no idea how this works when working in the notebook), and I've heard of IPython.Parallel, but I have been unable to find any documentation or examples.
Any solutions/alternatives would be most welcome.

I would post this as a comment since I don't have a full answer, but I'll amend as I figure out what is going on.
from multiprocessing import Pool
def f(x):
return x**2
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = Pool(4)
for res in pool.map(f,range(20)):
print(res)
This works. I believe the answer to this question is here. In short, the subprocesses do not know they are subprocesses and are attempting to run the main script recursively.
This is the error I am given, which gives us the same solution:
RuntimeError:
An attempt has been made to start a new process before the
current process has finished its bootstrapping phase.
This probably means that you are not using fork to start your
child processes and you have forgotten to use the proper idiom
in the main module:
if __name__ == '__main__':
freeze_support()
...
The "freeze_support()" line can be omitted if the program
is not going to be frozen to produce an executable.

Python multiprocessing hanging on pool.join()

I'm having problems with Python freezing when I try to use the multiprocessing module. I'm using Spyder 2.3.2 with Python 3.4.3 (I have previously encountered problems that were specific to iPython).
I've reduced it to the following MWE:
import multiprocessing
def test_function(arg1=1,arg2=2):
print("arg1 = {0}, arg2 = {1}".format(arg1,arg2))
return None
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=3)
for i in range(6):
pool.apply_async(test_function)
pool.close()
pool.join()
This, in its current form, should just produce six identical iterations of test_function. However, while I can enter the commands with no hassle, when I give the command pool.join(), iPython hangs, and I have to restart the kernel.
The function works perfectly well when done in serial (the next step in my MWE would be to use pool.apply_async(test_function,kwds=entry).
for i in range(6):
test_function()
arg_list = [{'arg1':3,'arg2':4},{'arg1':5,'arg2':6},{'arg1':7,'arg2':8}]
for entry in arg_list:
test_function(**entry)
I have (occasionally, and I'm unable to reliably reproduce it) come across an error message of ZMQError: Address already in use, which led me to this bug report, but preceding my code with either multiprocessing.set_start_method('spawn') or multiprocessing.set_start_method('forkserver') doesn't seem to work.
Can anyone offer any help/advice? Thanks in advance if so.

#Anarkopsykotik is correct: you must use a main, and you can get it to print by returning a result to the main thread.
Here's a working example.
import multiprocessing
import os
def test_function(arg1=1,arg2=2):
string="arg1 = {0}, arg2 = {1}".format(arg1,arg2) +" from process id: "+ str(os.getpid())
return string
if __name__ == '__main__':
pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=3)
for i in range(6):
result = pool.apply_async(test_function)
print(result.get(timeout=1))
pool.close()
pool.join()

Two things pop to my mind that might cause problems.
First, in the doc, there is a warning about using the interactive interpreter with multiprocessing module :
https://docs.python.org/2/library/multiprocessing.html#using-a-pool-of-workers
Functionality within this package requires that the main module be importable by the children. This is covered in Programming guidelines however it is worth pointing out here. This means that some examples, such as the Pool examples will not work in the interactive interpreter.
Second: you might want to retrieve a string with your async function, and then display it from your main thread. I am not quite sure child threads have access to standard output, which might be locked to the main thread.