Develop Reference

run new cygwin shell and kill it when I want

I've created an app that runs on cygwin, that will open some new shells and run python script on each of them. The problem started when I wanted to have control on the new shells and kill them at will. after a lot of digging I decided to use the following command:
subprocess.run('mintty.exe -t {} -h always -e {} &'.format(app_name, run_app_cmd), shell = True)
and later when I'll want to kill it use:
subprocess.run('kill -2 {}'.format(apps[app].shell_pid), shell = True).
it worked pretty well until I realized that A-L-O-T of times the new terminal gets stuck and doesn't respond, and I don't like it. I made some more digging and I found that while I thought that the python on the current mintty executes the command and opens the new terminal, what that actually happens is that the windows host opens the new mintty (the PPID of the new terminal is 1), and then probably the signal goes through some windows problems and etc.
the reason that I want each of the scripts in a separate terminal is that each of them have a lot of output, and I want them in different windows.
Now, after all this explanation, is there any way to prevent this? I don't want these stuck to become a part of my life...

Autoimport of modules from IDLE home directory

I am aware of the difference between import x and from x import yyy, in the latter case one can address x-located functions by bare name, instead of full specification, and this exactly I want to do, I do not want to write full name every time.
Also I know how to redefine default Python dir on Windows so that it starts knowing my developed modules, and this is fine. However how to combine those two things altogether?
I want IDLE to get started knowing all functions from all my modules so I do not need to import them manually.
from * import *
i.e. for all modules in IDLE home directory?
P.S. I saw this question, however it puts solution only for one import and do not scan the whole dir, also this solution with shortcut parameters does not seem beautiful to me.
Are there any more neat ways?

If you start idle with -r file it will first run the file, or with -s, it will first run the file listed in the IDLESTARTUP or PYTHONSTARTUP environmental variables. Then test by starting IDLE in command prompt with, for instance, py -m idlelib -r file. Once this works, you could create on IDLE shortcut on your desktop (drag and drop from Start menu), open Properties, and add either of the above to the end of the 'Target'.

Crontab executes python script but something is wrong

I am new to programming. I think I'm close to solving my issue, but it finally broke my brain and I need help.
I am running a pygame script as a scheduled task in crontabs. I have one code that executes successfully and does what it should. I have another code that executes, but when it does the screen goes blank, usually displaying some lines that I usually see when the Linux boots up, and it just stays stuck there.
I have gone through both codes and absolutely everything is similar and correct. I have #!/usr/bin/env python at the start of each script.
(Elsewhere it was recommended that I give the exact version, because I use dictionaries in my script and apparently crontab could get confused with the dictionary stuff that pygame uses. I don't fully understand, I tried it but it didn't work on my raspberry pi so I don't think that's the solution.)
Each script runs fine in the terminal.
I have set the PATH variable to the one that the python script uses and also set the SHELL to /bin/bash. In the task I also have "export DISPLAY=:0" (e.g. 12 21 * * * export DISPLAY=:0 && ...). I have found this was the magic trick that got the other code to work. Which made me wonder if there is another environment variable that I need to set in the task?
The difference between the first code and the second code: The second code uses pygame.mixer and plays sound files. In the script, the sound files are in dictionaries (e.g. sound = {"word" : "/absolute/path/to/file.wav", "word2" : ...etc} As I said this code runs fine in terminal.
So why does the one script work and not the other. Both use pygame. The other just uses sound, dictionaries instead of strings, and pygame.mixer as well. My reasoning is that there is an issue with crontab getting stuck on one of these things.

I fixed it. I was running it out of root. When I ran the crontab in the user it worked. It must be because the root couldn't get at the files.
Important tips is to add 'import os' and at some point in the script add 'print(os.environ)' to check all the environment variables when it runs in terminal.
Then copy the $PATH variables to the top of the crontab jobs.
Same with $SHELL.
The $DISPLAY variables need to be put in the line, so for example '* * * * * export DISPLAY=:0 && /usr/bin/python /home/user/file.py'
See how I put absolute paths for both the command and the path to file. I also set absolute paths to files in the script, even if the files are in the same folder as the script. I'm not sure if this is necessary I will check that next. I've seen a lot of people struggle with this issue and the advice usually comes down to these things.

How do I change directory in python so it remains after running the script?

I'm trying to change the terminal directory through a python script. I've seen this post and others like it so I know about os.chdir, but it's not working the way I'd like. os.chdir appears to change the directory, but only for the python script. For instance I have this code.
#! /usr/bin/env python
import os
os.chdir("/home/chekid/work2/")
print os.getcwd()
Unfortunately after running I'm still in the directory of the python script (e.g. /home/chekid) rather than the directory I want to be in. See below.
gandalf(pts/42):~> pwd
/home/chekid
gandalf(pts/42):~> ./changedirectory.py
/home/chekid/work2
gandalf(pts/42):~> pwd
/home/chekid
Any thoughts on what I should do?
Edit: Looks like what I'm trying to do doesn't exist in 'normal' python. I did find a work around, although it doesn't look so elegant to me.
cd `./changedirectory.py`

You can't. The shell's current directory belongs to the shell, not to you.
(OK, you could ptrace(2) the shell and make it call chdir(2), but that's probably not a great design, won't work on Windows, and I would not begin to know how to do it in pure Python except that you'd probably have to mess around with ctypes or something similar.)
You could launch a subshell with your current working directory. That might be close enough to what you need:
os.chdir('/path/to/somewhere')
shell = os.environ.get('SHELL', '/bin/sh')
os.execl(shell, shell)
# execl() does not return; it replaces the Python process with a new shell process
The original shell will still be there, so make sure you don't leave it hanging around. If you initially call Python with the exec builtin (e.g. exec python /path/to/script.py), then the original shell will be replaced with the Python process and you won't have to worry about this. But if Python exits without launching the shell, you'll be left with no shell open at all.

You can if you cheat: Make a bash script that calls your python script. The python script returns the path you want to change directory to. Then the bash script does the acctual chdir. Of course you would have to run the bash script in your bash shell using "source".

The current working directory is an attribute of a process. It cannot be changed by another program, such as changing the current working directory in your shell by running a separate Python program. This is why cd is always a shell built-in command.

You can make your python print the directory you want to move to, and then call your script with cd "$(./python-script.py)". In condition your script actually does not print anything else.

Python open default terminal, execute commands, keep open, AND then allow user-input

I'm wanting to open a terminal from a Python script (not one marked as executable, but actually doing python3 myscript.py to run it), have the terminal run commands, and then keep the terminal open and let the user type commands into it.
EDIT (as suggested): I am primarily needing this for Linux (I'm using Xubuntu, Ubuntu and stuff like that). It would be really nice to know Windows 7/8 and Mac methods, too, since I'd like a cross-platform solution in the long-run. Input for any system would be appreciated, however.
Just so people know some useful stuff pertaining to this, here's some code that may be difficult to come up with without some research. This doesn't allow user-input, but it does keep the window open. The code is specifically for Linux:
import subprocess, shlex;
myFilePathString="/home/asdf asdf/file.py";
params=shlex.split('x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c "python3 \''+myFilePathString+'\'; echo \'(Press any key to exit the terminal emulator.)\'; read -n 1 -s"');
subprocess.call(params);
To open it with the Python interpreter running afterward, which is about as good, if not better than what I'm looking for, try this:
import subprocess, shlex;
myFilePathString="/home/asdf asdf/file.py";
params=shlex.split('x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c "python3 -i \''+myFilePathString+'\'"');
subprocess.call(params);
I say these examples may take some time to come up with because passing parameters to bash, which is being opened within another command can be problematic without taking a few steps. Plus, you need to know to use to quotes in the right places, or else, for example, if there's a space in your file path, then you'll have problems and might not know why.
EDIT: For clarity (and part of the answer), I found out that there's a standard way to do this in Windows:
cmd /K [whatever your commands are]
So, if you don't know what I mean try that and see what happens. Here's the URL where I found the information: http://ss64.com/nt/cmd.html