[Python-Dev] Trap SIGSEGV and SIGFPE

Thu Dec 11 15:27:27 CET 2008

 >> The Python distribution comes with a Misc/gdbinit file
 Victor> Hum, do you really run *all* programs in gdb? Most of the time,
 Victor> you don't expect a crash (because you trust your softwares). You
 Victor> will have to try to reproduce the crash, but sometimes it's very
 Victor> hard (eg. Heisenbugs!).
Please folks! Get real. I was trying to help out a guy who responded to
this thread saying that he gets intermittent segfaults in his PyGTK
programs. I don't presume that he runs his app in gdb. If he has a core
file this will work. I apologize profusely for any implication that a set
of gdb commands is in any way superior to your patch.
OTOH, it works today if you have a core file and are running Python at least
as far back as 2.4. It doesn't require any changes to the interpreter. I
use it frequently at work (a couple times a month anyway). We get
notifications of all core files dropped each day. I make at least a cursory
check of all core files dumped by Python. For that I use the pystack
command defined in Misc/gdbinit.
 Victor> My new proposition is to display the backtrace instead of just
 Victor> the message "segmentation fault". It's not a problem if
 Victor> displaying the backtrace produces new fault because it's already
 Victor> better than just the message "segmentation fault". Even with my
 Victor> SIGSEVG handler, you can still use gdb because gdb catchs the
 Victor> signal before the program.
Again, I meant no disrespect to your proposal. I was *simply trying to help
the guy out*.
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