[Python-Dev] Trap SIGSEGV and SIGFPE (original) (raw)

Benjamin Peterson musiccomposition at gmail.com
Wed Dec 10 19:42:56 CET 2008

On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 12:37 PM, Victor Stinner <victor.stinner at haypocalc.com> wrote:

Oh, I forgot the issue URL: http://bugs.python.org/issue3999

I also attached an example of catching segfaults.

> I published a new version of my fault handler: it installs an handler for > signals SIGFPE and SIGSEGV. Using it, it's possible to catch them and > continue the execution of your Python program. Example:

This will of course leave the program in an undefined state. It is very likely to crash again, emit garbage, hang, or otherwise be useless. Recover after a segfault is dangerous, but my first goal was to get the Python backtrace instead just one line: "Segmentation fault". It helps a lot for debug!

Exactly! That's why it doesn't belong in the Python core. We can't guarantee anything about its affects or encourage it.

I didn't try on real world application, but with a small script the program continues its execution without any problem.

But as you say, it would be used on real world programs!

-- Cheers, Benjamin Peterson "There's nothing quite as beautiful as an oboe... except a chicken stuck in a vacuum cleaner."

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