[Python-Dev] RE: how to kill process on Windows started with os.spawn? (original) (raw)

Skip Montanaro skip@pobox.com
Sun, 1 Dec 2002 07:37:03 -0600

Regarding how to kill a process on Windows which was started with os.spawn*, on the Spambayes list I asked:

>> How would I kill that process on Windows,

Mark Hammond replied:

This worked for me just then:

>>> os.spawnl(os.P_NOWAIT, "f:\\windows\\notepad.exe")
548
>>> import win32api
>>> win32api.TerminateProcess(548,0)

Tim also replied:

Tim> For 2.3, I implemented something or other for the Python core;
Tim> probably killpid();

Shouldn't one of these solutions (or some variant) appear under the veneer of os.kill()? I realize the semantics might not be exactly the same (perhaps Windows solutions don't support different signals or a different set of signals), but it seems to me that if an attempt is made to provide the os.spawn* functions across platforms we should make a similar attempt to provide a way to kill spawned processes as well.

Corollary question: Is there some reason the win32api stuff isn't in the core?

Skip