345 lines
14 KiB
ReStructuredText
345 lines
14 KiB
ReStructuredText
:mod:`multiprocessing.shared_memory` --- Provides shared memory for direct access across processes
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===================================================================================================
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.. module:: multiprocessing.shared_memory
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:synopsis: Provides shared memory for direct access across processes.
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**Source code:** :source:`Lib/multiprocessing/shared_memory.py`
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.. versionadded:: 3.8
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.. index::
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single: Shared Memory
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single: POSIX Shared Memory
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single: Named Shared Memory
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--------------
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This module provides a class, :class:`SharedMemory`, for the allocation
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and management of shared memory to be accessed by one or more processes
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on a multicore or symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) machine. To assist with
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the life-cycle management of shared memory especially across distinct
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processes, a :class:`~multiprocessing.managers.BaseManager` subclass,
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:class:`SharedMemoryManager`, is also provided in the
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``multiprocessing.managers`` module.
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In this module, shared memory refers to "System V style" shared memory blocks
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(though is not necessarily implemented explicitly as such) and does not refer
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to "distributed shared memory". This style of shared memory permits distinct
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processes to potentially read and write to a common (or shared) region of
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volatile memory. Processes are conventionally limited to only have access to
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their own process memory space but shared memory permits the sharing
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of data between processes, avoiding the need to instead send messages between
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processes containing that data. Sharing data directly via memory can provide
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significant performance benefits compared to sharing data via disk or socket
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or other communications requiring the serialization/deserialization and
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copying of data.
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.. class:: SharedMemory(name=None, create=False, size=0)
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Creates a new shared memory block or attaches to an existing shared
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memory block. Each shared memory block is assigned a unique name.
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In this way, one process can create a shared memory block with a
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particular name and a different process can attach to that same shared
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memory block using that same name.
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As a resource for sharing data across processes, shared memory blocks
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may outlive the original process that created them. When one process
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no longer needs access to a shared memory block that might still be
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needed by other processes, the :meth:`close()` method should be called.
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When a shared memory block is no longer needed by any process, the
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:meth:`unlink()` method should be called to ensure proper cleanup.
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*name* is the unique name for the requested shared memory, specified as
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a string. When creating a new shared memory block, if ``None`` (the
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default) is supplied for the name, a novel name will be generated.
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*create* controls whether a new shared memory block is created (``True``)
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or an existing shared memory block is attached (``False``).
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*size* specifies the requested number of bytes when creating a new shared
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memory block. Because some platforms choose to allocate chunks of memory
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based upon that platform's memory page size, the exact size of the shared
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memory block may be larger or equal to the size requested. When attaching
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to an existing shared memory block, the ``size`` parameter is ignored.
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.. method:: close()
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Closes access to the shared memory from this instance. In order to
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ensure proper cleanup of resources, all instances should call
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``close()`` once the instance is no longer needed. Note that calling
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``close()`` does not cause the shared memory block itself to be
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destroyed.
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.. method:: unlink()
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Requests that the underlying shared memory block be destroyed. In
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order to ensure proper cleanup of resources, ``unlink()`` should be
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called once (and only once) across all processes which have need
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for the shared memory block. After requesting its destruction, a
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shared memory block may or may not be immediately destroyed and
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this behavior may differ across platforms. Attempts to access data
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inside the shared memory block after ``unlink()`` has been called may
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result in memory access errors. Note: the last process relinquishing
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its hold on a shared memory block may call ``unlink()`` and
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:meth:`close()` in either order.
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.. attribute:: buf
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A memoryview of contents of the shared memory block.
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.. attribute:: name
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Read-only access to the unique name of the shared memory block.
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.. attribute:: size
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Read-only access to size in bytes of the shared memory block.
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The following example demonstrates low-level use of :class:`SharedMemory`
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instances::
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>>> from multiprocessing import shared_memory
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>>> shm_a = shared_memory.SharedMemory(create=True, size=10)
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>>> type(shm_a.buf)
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<class 'memoryview'>
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>>> buffer = shm_a.buf
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>>> len(buffer)
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10
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>>> buffer[:4] = bytearray([22, 33, 44, 55]) # Modify multiple at once
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>>> buffer[4] = 100 # Modify single byte at a time
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>>> # Attach to an existing shared memory block
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>>> shm_b = shared_memory.SharedMemory(shm_a.name)
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>>> import array
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>>> array.array('b', shm_b.buf[:5]) # Copy the data into a new array.array
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array('b', [22, 33, 44, 55, 100])
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>>> shm_b.buf[:5] = b'howdy' # Modify via shm_b using bytes
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>>> bytes(shm_a.buf[:5]) # Access via shm_a
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b'howdy'
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>>> shm_b.close() # Close each SharedMemory instance
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>>> shm_a.close()
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>>> shm_a.unlink() # Call unlink only once to release the shared memory
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The following example demonstrates a practical use of the :class:`SharedMemory`
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class with `NumPy arrays <https://www.numpy.org/>`_, accessing the
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same ``numpy.ndarray`` from two distinct Python shells:
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.. doctest::
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:options: +SKIP
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>>> # In the first Python interactive shell
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>>> import numpy as np
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>>> a = np.array([1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8]) # Start with an existing NumPy array
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>>> from multiprocessing import shared_memory
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>>> shm = shared_memory.SharedMemory(create=True, size=a.nbytes)
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>>> # Now create a NumPy array backed by shared memory
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>>> b = np.ndarray(a.shape, dtype=a.dtype, buffer=shm.buf)
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>>> b[:] = a[:] # Copy the original data into shared memory
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>>> b
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array([1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8])
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>>> type(b)
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<class 'numpy.ndarray'>
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>>> type(a)
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<class 'numpy.ndarray'>
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>>> shm.name # We did not specify a name so one was chosen for us
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'psm_21467_46075'
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>>> # In either the same shell or a new Python shell on the same machine
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>>> import numpy as np
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>>> from multiprocessing import shared_memory
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>>> # Attach to the existing shared memory block
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>>> existing_shm = shared_memory.SharedMemory(name='psm_21467_46075')
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>>> # Note that a.shape is (6,) and a.dtype is np.int64 in this example
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>>> c = np.ndarray((6,), dtype=np.int64, buffer=existing_shm.buf)
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>>> c
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array([1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8])
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>>> c[-1] = 888
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>>> c
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array([ 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 888])
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>>> # Back in the first Python interactive shell, b reflects this change
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>>> b
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array([ 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 888])
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>>> # Clean up from within the second Python shell
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>>> del c # Unnecessary; merely emphasizing the array is no longer used
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>>> existing_shm.close()
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>>> # Clean up from within the first Python shell
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>>> del b # Unnecessary; merely emphasizing the array is no longer used
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>>> shm.close()
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>>> shm.unlink() # Free and release the shared memory block at the very end
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.. class:: SharedMemoryManager([address[, authkey]])
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:module: multiprocessing.managers
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A subclass of :class:`~multiprocessing.managers.BaseManager` which can be
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used for the management of shared memory blocks across processes.
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A call to :meth:`~multiprocessing.managers.BaseManager.start` on a
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:class:`SharedMemoryManager` instance causes a new process to be started.
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This new process's sole purpose is to manage the life cycle
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of all shared memory blocks created through it. To trigger the release
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of all shared memory blocks managed by that process, call
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:meth:`~multiprocessing.managers.BaseManager.shutdown()` on the instance.
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This triggers a :meth:`SharedMemory.unlink()` call on all of the
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:class:`SharedMemory` objects managed by that process and then
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stops the process itself. By creating ``SharedMemory`` instances
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through a ``SharedMemoryManager``, we avoid the need to manually track
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and trigger the freeing of shared memory resources.
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This class provides methods for creating and returning :class:`SharedMemory`
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instances and for creating a list-like object (:class:`ShareableList`)
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backed by shared memory.
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Refer to :class:`multiprocessing.managers.BaseManager` for a description
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of the inherited *address* and *authkey* optional input arguments and how
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they may be used to connect to an existing ``SharedMemoryManager`` service
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from other processes.
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.. method:: SharedMemory(size)
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Create and return a new :class:`SharedMemory` object with the
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specified ``size`` in bytes.
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.. method:: ShareableList(sequence)
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Create and return a new :class:`ShareableList` object, initialized
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by the values from the input ``sequence``.
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The following example demonstrates the basic mechanisms of a
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:class:`SharedMemoryManager`:
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.. doctest::
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:options: +SKIP
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>>> from multiprocessing.managers import SharedMemoryManager
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>>> smm = SharedMemoryManager()
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>>> smm.start() # Start the process that manages the shared memory blocks
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>>> sl = smm.ShareableList(range(4))
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>>> sl
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ShareableList([0, 1, 2, 3], name='psm_6572_7512')
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>>> raw_shm = smm.SharedMemory(size=128)
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>>> another_sl = smm.ShareableList('alpha')
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>>> another_sl
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ShareableList(['a', 'l', 'p', 'h', 'a'], name='psm_6572_12221')
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>>> smm.shutdown() # Calls unlink() on sl, raw_shm, and another_sl
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The following example depicts a potentially more convenient pattern for using
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:class:`SharedMemoryManager` objects via the :keyword:`with` statement to
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ensure that all shared memory blocks are released after they are no longer
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needed:
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.. doctest::
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:options: +SKIP
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>>> with SharedMemoryManager() as smm:
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... sl = smm.ShareableList(range(2000))
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... # Divide the work among two processes, storing partial results in sl
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... p1 = Process(target=do_work, args=(sl, 0, 1000))
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... p2 = Process(target=do_work, args=(sl, 1000, 2000))
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... p1.start()
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... p2.start() # A multiprocessing.Pool might be more efficient
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... p1.join()
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... p2.join() # Wait for all work to complete in both processes
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... total_result = sum(sl) # Consolidate the partial results now in sl
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When using a :class:`SharedMemoryManager` in a :keyword:`with` statement, the
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shared memory blocks created using that manager are all released when the
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:keyword:`with` statement's code block finishes execution.
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.. class:: ShareableList(sequence=None, *, name=None)
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Provides a mutable list-like object where all values stored within are
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stored in a shared memory block. This constrains storable values to
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only the ``int``, ``float``, ``bool``, ``str`` (less than 10M bytes each),
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``bytes`` (less than 10M bytes each), and ``None`` built-in data types.
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It also notably differs from the built-in ``list`` type in that these
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lists can not change their overall length (i.e. no append, insert, etc.)
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and do not support the dynamic creation of new :class:`ShareableList`
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instances via slicing.
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*sequence* is used in populating a new ``ShareableList`` full of values.
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Set to ``None`` to instead attach to an already existing
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``ShareableList`` by its unique shared memory name.
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*name* is the unique name for the requested shared memory, as described
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in the definition for :class:`SharedMemory`. When attaching to an
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existing ``ShareableList``, specify its shared memory block's unique
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name while leaving ``sequence`` set to ``None``.
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.. method:: count(value)
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Returns the number of occurrences of ``value``.
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.. method:: index(value)
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Returns first index position of ``value``. Raises :exc:`ValueError` if
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``value`` is not present.
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.. attribute:: format
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Read-only attribute containing the :mod:`struct` packing format used by
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all currently stored values.
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.. attribute:: shm
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The :class:`SharedMemory` instance where the values are stored.
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The following example demonstrates basic use of a :class:`ShareableList`
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instance:
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>>> from multiprocessing import shared_memory
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>>> a = shared_memory.ShareableList(['howdy', b'HoWdY', -273.154, 100, None, True, 42])
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>>> [ type(entry) for entry in a ]
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[<class 'str'>, <class 'bytes'>, <class 'float'>, <class 'int'>, <class 'NoneType'>, <class 'bool'>, <class 'int'>]
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>>> a[2]
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-273.154
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>>> a[2] = -78.5
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>>> a[2]
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-78.5
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>>> a[2] = 'dry ice' # Changing data types is supported as well
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>>> a[2]
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'dry ice'
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>>> a[2] = 'larger than previously allocated storage space'
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Traceback (most recent call last):
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...
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ValueError: exceeds available storage for existing str
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>>> a[2]
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'dry ice'
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>>> len(a)
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7
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>>> a.index(42)
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6
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>>> a.count(b'howdy')
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0
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>>> a.count(b'HoWdY')
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1
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>>> a.shm.close()
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>>> a.shm.unlink()
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>>> del a # Use of a ShareableList after call to unlink() is unsupported
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The following example depicts how one, two, or many processes may access the
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same :class:`ShareableList` by supplying the name of the shared memory block
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behind it:
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>>> b = shared_memory.ShareableList(range(5)) # In a first process
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>>> c = shared_memory.ShareableList(name=b.shm.name) # In a second process
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>>> c
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ShareableList([0, 1, 2, 3, 4], name='...')
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>>> c[-1] = -999
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>>> b[-1]
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-999
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>>> b.shm.close()
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>>> c.shm.close()
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>>> c.shm.unlink()
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