Tell consumers to stop waiting for queue elements - python

Here's an example. I have one producer and several consumers.
#!/usr/bin/env python2
from multiprocessing import Process, Queue
import time
def counter(low, high):
current = low
while current <= high:
yield current
current += 1
def put_tasks(q):
for c in counter(0, 9):
q.put(c)
time.sleep(.1)
print('put_tasks: no more tasks')
def work(id, q):
while True:
task = q.get()
print('process %d: %s' % (id, task))
time.sleep(.3)
print('process %d: done' % id)
if __name__ == '__main__':
q = Queue(2)
task_gen = Process(target=put_tasks, args=(q,))
processes = [Process(target=work, args=(id, q)) for id in range(0, 3)]
task_gen.start()
for p in processes:
p.start()
for p in processes:
p.join()
counter is just a number generator for put_tasks. Typically, I would have several thousands of tasks instead of just 10 like in this example. The point of this code is to feed the queue with tasks incrementally.
The problem is that consumers cannot know in advance how many tasks they will have to process but the put_tasks function does know when it's done (it then prints no more tasks).
Sample output:
process 2: 0
process 0: 1
process 1: 2
process 2: 3
process 0: 4
process 1: 5
process 2: 6
process 0: 7
process 1: 8
process 2: 9
put_tasks: no more tasks
All tasks get processed but the program then hangs (each process gets stuck on q.get(). I would like it to terminate when all tasks have been processed without sacrificing speed or safety (no ugly timeouts).
Any ideas?

I suggest to put a sentinel value to put on the end of the queue
def put_tasks(q):
...
print('put_tasks: no more tasks')
q.put(end_of_queue)
def work(id, q):
while True:
task = q.get()
if task == end_of_queue:
q.put(task)
print("DONE")
return
print('process %d: %s' % (id, task))
time.sleep(.1)
print('process %d: done' % id)
class Sentinel:
def __init__(self, id):
self.id = id
def __eq__(self, other):
if isinstance(other, Sentinel):
return self.id == other.id
return NotImplemented
if __name__ == '__main__':
q = Queue(2)
end_of_queue = Sentinel("end of queue")
task_gen = Process(target=put_tasks, args=(q,))
processes = [Process(target=work, args=(id, q)) for id in range(0, 3)]
...
I don't seem to be able to use object() as the sentinel because the threads seem to have access different instances, so they don't compare equal.
If you ever wish to generate random sentinels you can use the uuid module to generate random ids:
import uuid
class Sentinel:
def __init__(self):
self.id = uuid.uuid4()
def __eq__(self, other):
if isinstance(other, Sentinel):
return self.id == other.id
return NotImplemented
Finally, zch used None for a sentinel which is perfectly adequate as long as the queue cannot have None in. The sentinel method will work for mostly-arbitrary arguments.

The simplest way is to add to the queue something that tells consumers all work is done.
number_of_consumers = 3
def put_tasks(q):
for c in counter(0, 9):
q.put(c)
time.sleep(.1)
print('put_tasks: no more tasks')
for i in range(number_of_consumers):
q.put(None)
def work(id, q):
while True:
task = q.get()
if task is None:
break
print('process %d: %s' % (id, task))
time.sleep(.3)
print('process %d: done' % id)

I recently looked into the same question and found an alternate answer to the above, in the Python documentation
It looks like the "correct" way to do this is with the Queue.task_done() method, i.e.:
def worker():
while True:
item = q.get()
do_work(item)
q.task_done()
q = Queue()
for i in range(num_worker_threads):
t = Thread(target=worker)
t.daemon = True
t.start()
for item in source():
q.put(item)
q.join() # block until all tasks are done

Related

Terminating all sub-processes after an event

I have a Python multiprocessing scenario which I have simplified for my question here. There are x number of jobs to be processed in 2 parts. In my code, the 2 job parts are actually HTTP requests where part 2 is dependent on the results of part 1. Finally, there is a 3rd part that simply reports on how long parts 1 and 2 took and calculates a running average of time taken across all jobs.
Taking advantage of multiprocessing, I set up 2x process workers for Job Part 1 and also 2x workers for Job Part 2 and only 1x Reporter worker. To communicate the time taken for each job part, I am using Queues.
The code I have works fine for a complete workthrough of the specified x number of jobs BUT, I would like to add a timeout/cancel event that should stop all the workers and terminates gracefully.
In my code, I use the Report Worker to check for this event and when it happens I thought it would simply be a case of consuming the remaining jobs in all the queues and adding a poison pill to signal them to terminate.
The sub-processes do terminate BUT it seems control is NOT passed back to the "main" program and I can still see the main process hanging until I do a ctrl-c cancel in the command prompt.
Please help see my code and tell me where I am going wrong:
#!/usr/bin/python3
import sys, time, datetime, os, math, multiprocessing, time, random
TYPE_JOB_PART_1 = '1'
TYPE_JOB_PART_2 = '2'
class Worker(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, task_queue, result_queue, task_type):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)
self.task_queue = task_queue
self.result_queue = result_queue
self.task_type = task_type
def run(self):
while True:
next_task = self.task_queue.get()
if next_task is None:
#= Poison pill means shutdown
print('%s: is exiting: %s ===============' % (self.name, self.task_type))
self.task_queue.task_done()
break
job_response = next_task()
self.task_queue.task_done()
if self.task_type == TYPE_JOB_PART_1:
self.result_queue.put(do_jobPart_2(job_response))
elif self.task_type == TYPE_JOB_PART_2:
self.result_queue.put(do_reporting(job_response))
return
class Reporter(multiprocessing.Process):
def __init__(self, task_queue, result_queue, num_tasks, num_workers_jobPart1, num_workers_jobPart2, jobPart1_queue, jobPart2_queue):
multiprocessing.Process.__init__(self)
self.task_queue = task_queue
self.result_queue = result_queue
self.jobPart1_queue = jobPart1_queue
self.jobPart2_queue = jobPart2_queue
self.num_tasks = num_tasks
self.num_workers_jobPart1 = num_workers_jobPart1
self.num_workers_jobPart2 = num_workers_jobPart2
self.time_start = datetime.datetime.now() #= Start the timer
self.time_elapsed = 0
self.time_wait_to_terminate = 3 #= Define the timeout to terminate all jobs
def run(self):
while True:
next_task = self.task_queue.get()
if next_task is None:
#= Poison pill means shutdown
self.task_queue.task_done()
print('==================================================')
print('============ END OF PROCESSING ===================')
print('==================================================')
break
job_response = next_task()
self.task_queue.task_done()
self.result_queue.put(job_response)
queueSize = self.result_queue.qsize()
#= TERMINATTION time
print("================>i:%s" % (queueSize))
self.time_elapsed = (datetime.datetime.now() - self.time_start).total_seconds()
if self.time_elapsed > self.time_wait_to_terminate:
print("TIME IS UP. %s elapsed!" % self.time_wait_to_terminate)
#= Empty the JobPart_1 queue to relieve the workers
while not self.jobPart1_queue.empty():
self.jobPart1_queue.get()
self.jobPart1_queue.task_done()
#= And add poison pills again
for i in range(self.num_workers_jobPart1):
self.jobPart1_queue.put(None)
#= Empty the JobPart_2 queue to relieve the workers
while not self.jobPart2_queue.empty():
self.jobPart2_queue.get()
self.jobPart2_queue.task_done()
#= And add poison pills again
for i in range(self.num_workers_jobPart2):
self.jobPart2_queue.put(None)
#= Empty the report queue to relieve the reporter itself
while not self.task_queue.empty():
self.task_queue.get()
self.task_queue.task_done()
print("TIME IS UP: workers stopped, Reporter shutting itself down....")
break
#= Results queue is filled up when count = num_tasks, so give Poison pill to shutdown JobPart_2 workers
if queueSize == self.num_tasks:
for i in range(self.num_workers_jobPart2):
self.jobPart2_queue.put(None)
print("JobPart_2 workers will be poisoned")
return
class do_reporting(object):
def __init__(self, info):
self.info = info
def __call__(self):
try:
print("%s:do_reporting - is RUNNING " % (self.info['jobPart1_results']['i']))
randtime = 0.5 * random.random()
time.sleep(randtime)
print( 'jobPart1_time:%s, jobPart2_time:%s, report_time;%s' % ( self.info["jobPart1_results"]["jobPart1_time"], self.info["jobPart2_time"], randtime ) )
return {'results':self.info,'report_time':randtime}
except:
print("error:do_reporting")
class do_jobPart_1(object):
def __init__(self, i, t0):
self.t0 = t0
self.i = i
def __call__(self):
try:
print("%s:do_jobPart_1 - is RUNNING " % self.i)
randtime = 0.5 * random.random()
time.sleep(randtime)
time_elapsed = (datetime.datetime.now() - self.t0).total_seconds()
return {'i':self.i, 't0':self.t0, 'time_elapsed_job1':time_elapsed, 'jobPart1_time':randtime}
except:
print("error:do_jobPart_1")
class do_jobPart_2(object):
def __init__(self, info):
self.info = info
def __call__(self):
try:
print("%s:do_jobPart_2 - is RUNNING " % (self.info['i']))
randtime = 0.5 * random.random()
time.sleep(randtime)
return {"jobPart1_results":self.info,'jobPart2_time':randtime}
except:
print("error:do_jobPart_2")
if __name__ == '__main__':
print('==================================================')
print('============ START PROCESSING ====================')
print('==================================================')
#===============================================
#= Establish communication queues
q_jobPart_1 = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
q_jobPart_2 = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
q_reportTasks = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
q_results = multiprocessing.Queue()
#===============================================
#= Start workersReporter !!! Should always be just 1 worker !!!
numJobs = 90
numWorkers_jobPart1 = 2
numWorkers_jobPart2 = 2
workersJobPart_1 = [ Worker(q_jobPart_1, q_jobPart_2, TYPE_JOB_PART_1) for i in range(numWorkers_jobPart1) ]
workersJobPart_2 = [ Worker(q_jobPart_2, q_reportTasks, TYPE_JOB_PART_2) for i in range(numWorkers_jobPart2) ]
workerJobReporter = Reporter(q_reportTasks, q_results, numJobs, numWorkers_jobPart1, numWorkers_jobPart2, q_jobPart_1, q_jobPart_2)
#===============================================
#= Start the workers
print("Main PID:%s" % os.getpid())
for w in workersJobPart_1:
w.start()
print("JobPart_1 PID=%s" % w.pid)
for w in workersJobPart_2:
w.start()
print("JobPart_2 PID=%s" % w.pid)
workerJobReporter.start()
print("JobReporter PID=%s" % workerJobReporter.pid)
#= Start the timer and add tasks to the queues
time_start = datetime.datetime.now()
for i in range(numJobs):
q_jobPart_1.put(do_jobPart_1(i, time_start))
#= Add poison pill for each jobPart_1 workers
for i in range(numWorkers_jobPart1):
q_jobPart_1.put(None)
q_jobPart_1.join()
print("JobPart_1 workers terminated")
q_jobPart_2.join()
print("JobPart_2 workers terminated")
q_reportTasks.put(None)
q_reportTasks.join()
workerJobReporter.terminate()
print("Reporter terminated")
print("FINISHED")

Python Multiprocessing - terminate / restart worker process

I have a bunch of long running processes that I would like to split up into multiple processes. That part I can do no problem. The issue I run into is sometimes these processes go into a hung state. To address this issue I would like to be able to set a time threshold for each task that a process is working on. When that time threshold is exceeded I would like to restart or terminate the task.
Originally my code was very simple using a process pool, however with the pool I could not figure out how to retrieve the processes inside the pool, nevermind how to restart / terminate a process in the pool.
I have resorted to using a queue and process objects as is illustrated in this example (https://pymotw.com/2/multiprocessing/communication.html#passing-messages-to-processes with some changes.
My attempts to figure this out are in the code below. In its current state the process does not actually get terminated. Further to that I cannot figure out how to get the process to move onto the next task after the current task is terminated. Any suggestions / help appreciated, perhaps I’m going about this the wrong way.
Thanks
import multiprocess
import time
class Consumer(multiprocess.Process):
def __init__(self, task_queue, result_queue, startTimes, name=None):
multiprocess.Process.__init__(self)
if name:
self.name = name
print 'created process: {0}'.format(self.name)
self.task_queue = task_queue
self.result_queue = result_queue
self.startTimes = startTimes
def stopProcess(self):
elapseTime = time.time() - self.startTimes[self.name]
print 'killing process {0} {1}'.format(self.name, elapseTime)
self.task_queue.cancel_join_thread()
self.terminate()
# now want to get the process to start procesing another job
def run(self):
'''
The process subclass calls this on a separate process.
'''
proc_name = self.name
print proc_name
while True:
# pulling the next task off the queue and starting it
# on the current process.
task = self.task_queue.get()
self.task_queue.cancel_join_thread()
if task is None:
# Poison pill means shutdown
#print '%s: Exiting' % proc_name
self.task_queue.task_done()
break
self.startTimes[proc_name] = time.time()
answer = task()
self.task_queue.task_done()
self.result_queue.put(answer)
return
class Task(object):
def __init__(self, a, b, startTimes):
self.a = a
self.b = b
self.startTimes = startTimes
self.taskName = 'taskName_{0}_{1}'.format(self.a, self.b)
def __call__(self):
import time
import os
print 'new job in process pid:', os.getpid(), self.taskName
if self.a == 2:
time.sleep(20000) # simulate a hung process
else:
time.sleep(3) # pretend to take some time to do the work
return '%s * %s = %s' % (self.a, self.b, self.a * self.b)
def __str__(self):
return '%s * %s' % (self.a, self.b)
if __name__ == '__main__':
# Establish communication queues
# tasks = this is the work queue and results is for results or completed work
tasks = multiprocess.JoinableQueue()
results = multiprocess.Queue()
#parentPipe, childPipe = multiprocess.Pipe(duplex=True)
mgr = multiprocess.Manager()
startTimes = mgr.dict()
# Start consumers
numberOfProcesses = 4
processObjs = []
for processNumber in range(numberOfProcesses):
processObj = Consumer(tasks, results, startTimes)
processObjs.append(processObj)
for process in processObjs:
process.start()
# Enqueue jobs
num_jobs = 30
for i in range(num_jobs):
tasks.put(Task(i, i + 1, startTimes))
# Add a poison pill for each process object
for i in range(numberOfProcesses):
tasks.put(None)
# process monitor loop,
killProcesses = {}
executing = True
while executing:
allDead = True
for process in processObjs:
name = process.name
#status = consumer.status.getStatusString()
status = process.is_alive()
pid = process.ident
elapsedTime = 0
if name in startTimes:
elapsedTime = time.time() - startTimes[name]
if elapsedTime > 10:
process.stopProcess()
print "{0} - {1} - {2} - {3}".format(name, status, pid, elapsedTime)
if allDead and status:
allDead = False
if allDead:
executing = False
time.sleep(3)
# Wait for all of the tasks to finish
#tasks.join()
# Start printing results
while num_jobs:
result = results.get()
print 'Result:', result
num_jobs -= 1
I generally recommend against subclassing multiprocessing.Process as it leads to code hard to read.
I'd rather encapsulate your logic in a function and run it in a separate process. This keeps the code much cleaner and intuitive.
Nevertheless, rather than reinventing the wheel, I'd recommend you to use some library which already solves the issue for you such as Pebble or billiard.
For example, the Pebble library allows to easily set timeouts to processes running independently or within a Pool.
Running your function within a separate process with a timeout:
from pebble import concurrent
from concurrent.futures import TimeoutError
#concurrent.process(timeout=10)
def function(foo, bar=0):
return foo + bar
future = function(1, bar=2)
try:
result = future.result() # blocks until results are ready
except TimeoutError as error:
print("Function took longer than %d seconds" % error.args[1])
Same example but with a process Pool.
with ProcessPool(max_workers=5, max_tasks=10) as pool:
future = pool.schedule(function, args=[1], timeout=10)
try:
result = future.result() # blocks until results are ready
except TimeoutError as error:
print("Function took longer than %d seconds" % error.args[1])
In both cases, the timing out process will be automatically terminated for you.
A way simpler solution would be to continue using a than reimplementing the Pool is to design a mechanism which timeout the function you are running.
For instance:
from time import sleep
import signal
class TimeoutError(Exception):
pass
def handler(signum, frame):
raise TimeoutError()
def run_with_timeout(func, *args, timeout=10, **kwargs):
signal.signal(signal.SIGALRM, handler)
signal.alarm(timeout)
try:
res = func(*args, **kwargs)
except TimeoutError as exc:
print("Timeout")
res = exc
finally:
signal.alarm(0)
return res
def test():
sleep(4)
print("ok")
if __name__ == "__main__":
import multiprocessing as mp
p = mp.Pool()
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout":1}).get())
The signal.alarm set a timeout and when this timeout, it run the handler, which stop the execution of your function.
EDIT: If you are using a windows system, it seems to be a bit more complicated as signal does not implement SIGALRM. Another solution is to use the C-level python API. This code have been adapted from this SO answer with a bit of adaptation to work on 64bit system. I have only tested it on linux but it should work the same on windows.
import threading
import ctypes
from time import sleep
class TimeoutError(Exception):
pass
def run_with_timeout(func, *args, timeout=10, **kwargs):
interupt_tid = int(threading.get_ident())
def interupt_thread():
# Call the low level C python api using ctypes. tid must be converted
# to c_long to be valid.
res = ctypes.pythonapi.PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(
ctypes.c_long(interupt_tid), ctypes.py_object(TimeoutError))
if res == 0:
print(threading.enumerate())
print(interupt_tid)
raise ValueError("invalid thread id")
elif res != 1:
# "if it returns a number greater than one, you're in trouble,
# and you should call it again with exc=NULL to revert the effect"
ctypes.pythonapi.PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(
ctypes.c_long(interupt_tid), 0)
raise SystemError("PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc failed")
timer = threading.Timer(timeout, interupt_thread)
try:
timer.start()
res = func(*args, **kwargs)
except TimeoutError as exc:
print("Timeout")
res = exc
else:
timer.cancel()
return res
def test():
sleep(4)
print("ok")
if __name__ == "__main__":
import multiprocessing as mp
p = mp.Pool()
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout": 1}).get())
print(p.apply_async(run_with_timeout, args=(test,),
kwds={"timeout": 5}).get())
For long running processes and/or long iterators, spawned workers might hang after some time. To prevent this, there are two built-in techniques:
Restart workers after they have delivered maxtasksperchild tasks from the queue.
Pass timeout to pool.imap.next(), catch the TimeoutError, and finish the rest of the work in another pool.
The following wrapper implements both, as a generator. This also works when replacing stdlib multiprocessing with multiprocess.
import multiprocessing as mp
def imap(
func,
iterable,
*,
processes=None,
maxtasksperchild=42,
timeout=42,
initializer=None,
initargs=(),
context=mp.get_context("spawn")
):
"""Multiprocessing imap, restarting workers after maxtasksperchild tasks to avoid zombies.
Example:
>>> list(imap(str, range(5)))
['0', '1', '2', '3', '4']
Raises:
mp.TimeoutError: if the next result cannot be returned within timeout seconds.
Yields:
Ordered results as they come in.
"""
with context.Pool(
processes=processes,
maxtasksperchild=maxtasksperchild,
initializer=initializer,
initargs=initargs,
) as pool:
it = pool.imap(func, iterable)
while True:
try:
yield it.next(timeout)
except StopIteration:
return
To catch the TimeoutError:
>>> import time
>>> iterable = list(range(10))
>>> results = []
>>> try:
... for i, result in enumerate(imap(time.sleep, iterable, processes=2, timeout=2)):
... results.append(result)
... except mp.TimeoutError:
... print("Failed to process the following subset of iterable:", iterable[i:])
Failed to process the following subset of iterable: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]

Python multiprocessing task queue

I'm experimenting with the multiprocessing module and I'm getting some strange behavior. I have a list of tasks, which I first enqueue to a task_queue. Then I start all processes, which have access to both the task queue and the result queue. After the processes have started, I actively check for new content in the result queue while there are active processes.
The weird behavior is that when I start the script below, 4 of the processes exit immediately, and all the work is done by one process. No except Exception clauses are entered.
from multiprocessing import Process, Queue
from time import sleep, time
from queue import Empty
def function_doing_heavy_computation(task):
return task + 1
def service_function(func, tasks_q, result_q):
"""
:param func: user passed function that takes one argument - the task and returns the result of processing the task
:param tasks_q:
:param result_q:
"""
while True:
try:
task = tasks_q.get_nowait()
except Empty:
result_q.close() # https://docs.python.org/2/library/multiprocessing.html#multiprocessing.Queue.close
result_q.join_thread()
print("Worker finished ")
break
except Exception as ex:
print(str(ex))
try:
res = func(task)
except Exception as ex:
print(str(ex))
result_q.put_nowait(res)
def multiproc(func, all_tasks, num_procs):
result = []
task_queue, result_queue = Queue(), Queue()
# add the tasks to the task queue
start_put_tasks = time()
for x in all_tasks:
task_queue.put_nowait(x)
print("Finished adding tasks in %.2f" % (time() - start_put_tasks))
# create the processes and pass them the task and result queue
start_create_procs = time()
procs = []
for _ in range(num_procs):
p = Process(target=service_function, args=(func, task_queue, result_queue))
procs.append(p)
for p in procs:
p.start()
print("Started %i workers in %.2f" % (len(procs), time() - start_create_procs))
# collect the results in a list, and return it
start_drain_queue = time()
liveprocs = list(procs)
while liveprocs:
# drain the current contents of the result_queue
while True:
try:
result.append(result_queue.get_nowait())
except Empty:
break
# set the currently active procs. while loop will exit if all procs have terminated
liveprocs = [p for p in procs if p.is_alive()]
# no process has put a result/all ready results have been drained. wait for new results to arrive
sleep(.1)
print("Finished draining result queue in %.2f" % (time() - start_drain_queue))
if len(result) != len(all_tasks):
raise RuntimeError("Only %i/%i tasks processed" % (len(result), len(all_tasks)))
return result
if __name__ == '__main__':
start = time()
# a task is just a number here.
# normally more tasks than workers. i
tasks = range(100000)
result = multiproc(func=function_doing_heavy_computation, all_tasks=tasks, num_procs=5)
print("Done in %s seconds" % str(time() - start))
assert len(tasks) == len(result)
print("Processed %i tasks" % len(result))

Process vs. Thread with regards to using Queue()/deque() and class variable for communication and "poison pill"

I would like to create either a Thread or a Process which runs forever in a While True loop.
I need to send and receive data to the worker in the form for queues, either a multiprocessing.Queue() or a collections.deque(). I prefer to use collections.deque() as it is significantly faster.
I also need to be able to kill the worker eventually (as it runs in a while True loop. Here is some test code I've put together to try and understand the differences between Threads, Processes, Queues, and deque ..
import time
from multiprocessing import Process, Queue
from threading import Thread
from collections import deque
class ThreadingTest(Thread):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ThreadingTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.toRun = False
def run(self):
print("Started Thread")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Thread deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
print("Thread Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Thread")
self.toRun = False
while self.isAlive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Thread")
class ProcessTest(Process):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ProcessTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.toRun = False
self.ctr = 0
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
print("Process Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.toRun = False
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
if __name__ == '__main__':
q = Queue()
t1 = ProcessTest(q)
t1.start()
for i in range(10):
if type(q) == type(deque()):
q.append(i)
elif type(q) == type(Queue()):
q.put_nowait(i)
time.sleep(1)
t1.stop()
t1.join()
if type(q) == type(deque()):
print(q)
elif type(q) == type(Queue()):
while q.qsize() > 0:
print(str(q.get_nowait()))
As you can see, t1 can either be ThreadingTest, or ProcessTest. Also, the queue passed to it can either be a multiprocessing.Queue or a collections.deque.
ThreadingTest works with a Queue or deque(). It also kills run() properly when the stop() method is called.
Started Thread
Thread deque: 0
Thread deque: 1
Thread deque: 2
Thread deque: 3
Thread deque: 4
Thread deque: 5
Thread deque: 6
Thread deque: 7
Thread deque: 8
Thread deque: 9
Trying to stop Thread
Stopped Thread
deque([])
ProcessTest is only able to read from the queue if it is of type multiprocessing.Queue. It doesn't work with collections.deque. Furthermore, I am unable to kill the process using stop().
Process Queue: 0
Process Queue: 1
Process Queue: 2
Process Queue: 3
Process Queue: 4
Process Queue: 5
Process Queue: 6
Process Queue: 7
Process Queue: 8
Process Queue: 9
Trying to stop Process
I'm trying to figure out why? Also, what would be the best way to use deque with a process? And, how would I go about killing the process using some sort of stop() method.
You can't use a collections.deque to pass data between two multiprocessing.Process instances, because collections.deque is not process-aware. multiprocessing.Queue writes its contents to a multiprocessing.Pipe internally, which means that data in it can be enqueued in once process and retrieved in another. collections.deque doesn't have that kind of plumbing, so it won't work. When you write to the deque in one process, the deque instance in the other process won't be affected at all; they're completely separate instances.
A similar issue is happening to your stop() method. You're changing the value of toRun in the main process, but this won't affect the child at all. They're completely separate instances. The best way to end the child would be to send some sentinel to the Queue. When you get the sentinel in the child, break out of the infinite loop:
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if type(self.q) == type(deque()):
if self.q:
i = self.q.popleft()
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
elif type(self.q) == type(Queue()):
if not self.q.empty():
i = self.q.get_nowait()
if i is None:
break # Got sentinel, so break
print("Process Queue: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.q.put(None) # Send sentinel
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
Edit:
If you actually do need deque semantics between two process, you can use a custom multiprocessing.Manager() to create a shared deque in a Manager process, and each of your Process instances will get a Proxy to it:
import time
from multiprocessing import Process
from multiprocessing.managers import SyncManager
from collections import deque
SyncManager.register('deque', deque)
def Manager():
m = SyncManager()
m.start()
return m
class ProcessTest(Process):
def __init__(self, q):
super(ProcessTest, self).__init__()
self.q = q
self.ctr = 0
def run(self):
print("Started Process")
self.toRun = True
while self.toRun:
if self.q._getvalue():
i = self.q.popleft()
if i is None:
break
print("Process deque: " + str(i))
def stop(self):
print("Trying to stop Process")
self.q.append(None)
while self.is_alive():
time.sleep(0.1)
print("Stopped Process")
if __name__ == '__main__':
m = Manager()
q = m.deque()
t1 = ProcessTest(q)
t1.start()
for i in range(10):
q.append(i)
time.sleep(1)
t1.stop()
t1.join()
print(q)
Note that this probably isn't going to be faster than a multiprocessing.Queue, though, since there's an IPC cost for every time you access the deque. It's also a much less natural data structure for passing messages the way you are.

Multiprocessing Queue in Python

I'm trying to use a queue with the multiprocessing library in Python. After executing the code below (the print statements work), but the processes do not quit after I call join on the Queue and there are still alive. How can I terminate the remaining processes?
Thanks!
def MultiprocessTest(self):
print "Starting multiprocess."
print "Number of CPUs",multiprocessing.cpu_count()
num_procs = 4
def do_work(message):
print "work",message ,"completed"
def worker():
while True:
item = q.get()
do_work(item)
q.task_done()
q = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
for i in range(num_procs):
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=worker)
p.daemon = True
p.start()
source = ['hi','there','how','are','you','doing']
for item in source:
q.put(item)
print "q close"
q.join()
#q.close()
print "Finished everything...."
print "num active children:",multiprocessing.active_children()
try this:
import multiprocessing
num_procs = 4
def do_work(message):
print "work",message ,"completed"
def worker():
for item in iter( q.get, None ):
do_work(item)
q.task_done()
q.task_done()
q = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
procs = []
for i in range(num_procs):
procs.append( multiprocessing.Process(target=worker) )
procs[-1].daemon = True
procs[-1].start()
source = ['hi','there','how','are','you','doing']
for item in source:
q.put(item)
q.join()
for p in procs:
q.put( None )
q.join()
for p in procs:
p.join()
print "Finished everything...."
print "num active children:", multiprocessing.active_children()
Your workers need a sentinel to terminate, or they will just sit on the blocking reads. Note that using sleep on the Q instead of join on the P lets you display status information etc.
My preferred template is:
def worker(q,nameStr):
print 'Worker %s started' %nameStr
while True:
item = q.get()
if item is None: # detect sentinel
break
print '%s processed %s' % (nameStr,item) # do something useful
q.task_done()
print 'Worker %s Finished' % nameStr
q.task_done()
q = multiprocessing.JoinableQueue()
procs = []
for i in range(num_procs):
nameStr = 'Worker_'+str(i)
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=worker, args=(q,nameStr))
p.daemon = True
p.start()
procs.append(p)
source = ['hi','there','how','are','you','doing']
for item in source:
q.put(item)
for i in range(num_procs):
q.put(None) # send termination sentinel, one for each process
while not q.empty(): # wait for processing to finish
sleep(1) # manage timeouts and status updates etc.
Here is a sentinel-free method for the relatively simple case where you put a number of tasks on a JoinableQueue, then launch worker processes that consume the tasks and exit once they read the queue "dry". The trick is to use JoinableQueue.get_nowait() instead of get(). get_nowait(), as the name implies, tries to get a value from the queue in a non-blocking manner and if there's nothing to be gotten then a queue.Empty exception is raised. The worker handles this exception by exiting.
Rudimentary code to illustrate the principle:
import multiprocessing as mp
from queue import Empty
def worker(q):
while True:
try:
work = q.get_nowait()
# ... do something with `work`
q.task_done()
except Empty:
break # completely done
# main
worknum = 4
jq = mp.JoinableQueue()
# fill up the task queue
# let's assume `tasks` contains some sort of data
# that your workers know how to process
for task in tasks:
jq.put(task)
procs = [ mp.Process(target=worker, args=(jq,)) for _ in range(worknum) ]
for p in procs:
p.start()
for p in procs:
p.join()
The advantage is that you do not need to put the "poison pills" on the queue so the code is a bit shorter.
IMPORTANT : in more complex situations where producers and consumers use the same queue in an "interleaved" manner and the workers may have to wait for new tasks to come along, the "poison pill" approach should be used. My suggestion above is for simple cases where the workers "know" that if the task queue is empty, then there's no point hanging around any more.
You have to clear the queue before joining the process, but q.empty() is unreliable.
The best way to clear the queue is to count the number of successful gets or loop until you receive a sentinel value, just like a socket with a reliable network.
The code below may not be very relevant but I post it for your comments/feedbacks so we can learn together. Thank you!
import multiprocessing
def boss(q,nameStr):
source = range(1024)
for item in source:
q.put(nameStr+' '+str(item))
q.put(None) # send termination sentinel, one for each process
def worker(q,nameStr):
while True:
item = q.get()
if item is None: # detect sentinel
break
print '%s processed %s' % (nameStr,item) # do something useful
q = multiprocessing.Queue()
procs = []
num_procs = 4
for i in range(num_procs):
nameStr = 'ID_'+str(i)
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=worker, args=(q,nameStr))
procs.append(p)
p = multiprocessing.Process(target=boss, args=(q,nameStr))
procs.append(p)
for j in procs:
j.start()
for j in procs:
j.join()

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