Progress on issue #1193577 by adding a polling .shutdown() method to

SocketServers. The core of the patch was written by Pedro Werneck, but any bugs
are mine. I've also rearranged the code for timeouts in order to avoid
interfering with the shutdown poll.

Doc/library/socketserver.rst

@@ -113,7 +113,8 @@ or inappropriate for the service) is to maintain an explicit table of partially
 finished requests and to use :func:`select` to decide which request to work on
 next (or whether to handle a new incoming request).  This is particularly
 important for stream services where each client can potentially be connected for
-a long time (if threads or subprocesses cannot be used).
+a long time (if threads or subprocesses cannot be used). See :mod:`asyncore` for
+another way to manage this.
 
 .. XXX should data and methods be intermingled, or separate?
    how should the distinction between class and instance variables be drawn?
@@ -132,16 +133,24 @@ Server Objects
 
 .. function:: handle_request()
 
-   Process a single request.  This function calls the following methods in order:
+   Process a single request.  This function calls the following methods in
-   :meth:`get_request`, :meth:`verify_request`, and :meth:`process_request`.  If
+   order: :meth:`get_request`, :meth:`verify_request`, and
-   the user-provided :meth:`handle` method of the handler class raises an
+   :meth:`process_request`.  If the user-provided :meth:`handle` method of the
-   exception, the server's :meth:`handle_error` method will be called.
+   handler class raises an exception, the server's :meth:`handle_error` method
+   will be called.  If no request is received within :attr:`self.timeout`
+   seconds, :meth:`handle_timeout` will be called and :meth:`handle_request`
+   will return.
 
 
-.. function:: serve_forever()
+.. function:: serve_forever(poll_interval=0.5)
 
-   Handle an infinite number of requests.  This simply calls :meth:`handle_request`
+   Handle requests until an explicit :meth:`shutdown` request.  Polls for
-   inside an infinite loop.
+   shutdown every *poll_interval* seconds.
+
+
+.. function:: shutdown()
+
+   Tells the :meth:`serve_forever` loop to stop and waits until it does.
 
 
 .. data:: address_family
@@ -195,10 +204,9 @@ The server classes support the following class variables:
 
 .. data:: timeout
 
-   Timeout duration, measured in seconds, or :const:`None` if no timeout is desired.
+   Timeout duration, measured in seconds, or :const:`None` if no timeout is
-   If no incoming requests are received within the timeout period, 
+   desired.  If :meth:`handle_request` receives no incoming requests within the
-   the :meth:`handle_timeout` method is called and then the server resumes waiting for 
+   timeout period, the :meth:`handle_timeout` method is called.
-   requests.
 
 There are various server methods that can be overridden by subclasses of base
 server classes like :class:`TCPServer`; these methods aren't useful to external

Lib/SocketServer.py

@@ -130,8 +130,13 @@ __version__ = "0.4"
 
 
 import socket
+import select
 import sys
 import os
+try:
+    import threading
+except ImportError:
+    import dummy_threading as threading
 
 __all__ = ["TCPServer","UDPServer","ForkingUDPServer","ForkingTCPServer",
            "ThreadingUDPServer","ThreadingTCPServer","BaseRequestHandler",
@@ -149,7 +154,8 @@ class BaseServer:
     Methods for the caller:
 
     - __init__(server_address, RequestHandlerClass)
-    - serve_forever()
+    - serve_forever(poll_interval=0.5)
+    - shutdown()
     - handle_request()  # if you do not use serve_forever()
     - fileno() -> int   # for select()
 
@@ -190,6 +196,8 @@ class BaseServer:
         """Constructor.  May be extended, do not override."""
         self.server_address = server_address
         self.RequestHandlerClass = RequestHandlerClass
+        self.__is_shut_down = threading.Event()
+        self.__serving = False
 
     def server_activate(self):
         """Called by constructor to activate the server.
@@ -199,27 +207,73 @@ class BaseServer:
         """
         pass
 
-    def serve_forever(self):
+    def serve_forever(self, poll_interval=0.5):
-        """Handle one request at a time until doomsday."""
+        """Handle one request at a time until shutdown.
-        while 1:
+
-            self.handle_request()
+        Polls for shutdown every poll_interval seconds. Ignores
+        self.timeout. If you need to do periodic tasks, do them in
+        another thread.
+        """
+        self.__serving = True
+        self.__is_shut_down.clear()
+        while self.__serving:
+            # XXX: Consider using another file descriptor or
+            # connecting to the socket to wake this up instead of
+            # polling. Polling reduces our responsiveness to a
+            # shutdown request and wastes cpu at all other times.
+            r, w, e = select.select([self], [], [], poll_interval)
+            if r:
+                self._handle_request_noblock()
+        self.__is_shut_down.set()
+
+    def shutdown(self):
+        """Stops the serve_forever loop.
+
+        Blocks until the loop has finished. This must be called while
+        serve_forever() is running in another thread, or it will
+        deadlock.
+        """
+        self.__serving = False
+        self.__is_shut_down.wait()
 
     # The distinction between handling, getting, processing and
     # finishing a request is fairly arbitrary.  Remember:
     #
     # - handle_request() is the top-level call.  It calls
-    #   await_request(), verify_request() and process_request()
+    #   select, get_request(), verify_request() and process_request()
-    # - get_request(), called by await_request(), is different for
+    # - get_request() is different for stream or datagram sockets
-    #   stream or datagram sockets
     # - process_request() is the place that may fork a new process
     #   or create a new thread to finish the request
     # - finish_request() instantiates the request handler class;
     #   this constructor will handle the request all by itself
 
     def handle_request(self):
-        """Handle one request, possibly blocking."""
+        """Handle one request, possibly blocking.
+
+        Respects self.timeout.
+        """
+        # Support people who used socket.settimeout() to escape
+        # handle_request before self.timeout was available.
+        timeout = self.socket.gettimeout()
+        if timeout is None:
+            timeout = self.timeout
+        elif self.timeout is not None:
+            timeout = min(timeout, self.timeout)
+        fd_sets = select.select([self], [], [], timeout)
+        if not fd_sets[0]:
+            self.handle_timeout()
+            return
+        self._handle_request_noblock()
+
+    def _handle_request_noblock(self):
+        """Handle one request, without blocking.
+
+        I assume that select.select has returned that the socket is
+        readable before this function was called, so there should be
+        no risk of blocking in get_request().
+        """
         try:
-            request, client_address = self.await_request()
+            request, client_address = self.get_request()
         except socket.error:
             return
         if self.verify_request(request, client_address):
@@ -229,21 +283,6 @@ class BaseServer:
                 self.handle_error(request, client_address)
                 self.close_request(request)
 
-    def await_request(self):
-        """Call get_request or handle_timeout, observing self.timeout.
-
-        Returns value from get_request() or raises socket.timeout exception if
-        timeout was exceeded.
-        """
-        if self.timeout is not None:
-            # If timeout == 0, you're responsible for your own fd magic.
-            import select
-            fd_sets = select.select([self], [], [], self.timeout)
-            if not fd_sets[0]:
-                self.handle_timeout()
-                raise socket.timeout("Listening timed out")
-        return self.get_request()
-
     def handle_timeout(self):
         """Called if no new request arrives within self.timeout.
 
@@ -307,7 +346,8 @@ class TCPServer(BaseServer):
     Methods for the caller:
 
     - __init__(server_address, RequestHandlerClass, bind_and_activate=True)
-    - serve_forever()
+    - serve_forever(poll_interval=0.5)
+    - shutdown()
     - handle_request()  # if you don't use serve_forever()
     - fileno() -> int   # for select()
 
@@ -523,7 +563,6 @@ class ThreadingMixIn:
 
     def process_request(self, request, client_address):
         """Start a new thread to process the request."""
-        import threading
         t = threading.Thread(target = self.process_request_thread,
                              args = (request, client_address))
         if self.daemon_threads:

Lib/test/test_socketserver.py

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ from test.test_support import TESTFN as TEST_FILE
 
 test.test_support.requires("network")
 
-NREQ = 3
 TEST_STR = "hello world\n"
 HOST = "localhost"
 
@@ -50,43 +49,6 @@ if HAVE_UNIX_SOCKETS:
         pass
 
 
-class MyMixinServer:
-    def serve_a_few(self):
-        for i in range(NREQ):
-            self.handle_request()
-
-    def handle_error(self, request, client_address):
-        self.close_request(request)
-        self.server_close()
-        raise
-
-
-class ServerThread(threading.Thread):
-    def __init__(self, addr, svrcls, hdlrcls):
-        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
-        self.__addr = addr
-        self.__svrcls = svrcls
-        self.__hdlrcls = hdlrcls
-        self.ready = threading.Event()
-
-    def run(self):
-        class svrcls(MyMixinServer, self.__svrcls):
-            pass
-        if verbose: print "thread: creating server"
-        svr = svrcls(self.__addr, self.__hdlrcls)
-        # We had the OS pick a port, so pull the real address out of
-        # the server.
-        self.addr = svr.server_address
-        self.port = self.addr[1]
-        if self.addr != svr.socket.getsockname():
-            raise RuntimeError('server_address was %s, expected %s' %
-                               (self.addr, svr.socket.getsockname()))
-        self.ready.set()
-        if verbose: print "thread: serving three times"
-        svr.serve_a_few()
-        if verbose: print "thread: done"
-
-
 @contextlib.contextmanager
 def simple_subprocess(testcase):
     pid = os.fork()
@@ -143,28 +105,48 @@ class SocketServerTest(unittest.TestCase):
             self.test_files.append(fn)
             return fn
 
-    def run_server(self, svrcls, hdlrbase, testfunc):
+    def make_server(self, addr, svrcls, hdlrbase):
+        class MyServer(svrcls):
+            def handle_error(self, request, client_address):
+                self.close_request(request)
+                self.server_close()
+                raise
+
         class MyHandler(hdlrbase):
             def handle(self):
                 line = self.rfile.readline()
                 self.wfile.write(line)
 
-        addr = self.pickaddr(svrcls.address_family)
+        if verbose: print "creating server"
+        server = MyServer(addr, MyHandler)
+        self.assertEquals(server.server_address, server.socket.getsockname())
+        return server
+
+    def run_server(self, svrcls, hdlrbase, testfunc):
+        server = self.make_server(self.pickaddr(svrcls.address_family),
+                                  svrcls, hdlrbase)
+        # We had the OS pick a port, so pull the real address out of
+        # the server.
+        addr = server.server_address
         if verbose:
+            print "server created"
             print "ADDR =", addr
             print "CLASS =", svrcls
-        t = ServerThread(addr, svrcls, MyHandler)
+        t = threading.Thread(
-        if verbose: print "server created"
+            name='%s serving' % svrcls,
+            target=server.serve_forever,
+            # Short poll interval to make the test finish quickly.
+            # Time between requests is short enough that we won't wake
+            # up spuriously too many times.
+            kwargs={'poll_interval':0.01})
+        t.setDaemon(True)  # In case this function raises.
         t.start()
         if verbose: print "server running"
-        t.ready.wait(10)
+        for i in range(3):
-        self.assert_(t.ready.isSet(),
-                     "%s not ready within a reasonable time" % svrcls)
-        addr = t.addr
-        for i in range(NREQ):
             if verbose: print "test client", i
             testfunc(svrcls.address_family, addr)
         if verbose: print "waiting for server"
+        server.shutdown()
         t.join()
         if verbose: print "done"
 

Misc/NEWS

@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ Core and builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #1193577: A .shutdown() method has been added to SocketServers
+  which terminates the .serve_forever() loop.
+
 - Bug #2220: handle rlcompleter attribute match failure more gracefully.
 
 - Issue #2225: py_compile, when executed as a script, now returns a non-