Files
tai/research/async-pty-process-testing/bpo-wait-for-timeout-leaves-process-alive.md
T
retoorandClaude Sonnet 5 9dbd1fe667 Add plexer subsystem, container test infra, and last-resort opencode box backend
- Plexer: always-active terminal multiplexing. NativePlexerController/
  TmuxPlexerController share one interface, chosen by which env var is
  already set (TAI_PLEXER_SOCKET vs TMUX_PANE); NativePlexerBackend is
  the pty.fork()-based wrapper (raw mode, SIGWINCH resize forwarding,
  a Unix-socket control protocol, continuous session logging, a
  Ctrl+A prefix key distinct from tmux's own Ctrl+B). Auto-wraps new
  interactive shells via a .bashrc hook mirroring the existing
  command-not-found install pattern, gated on $TMUX/$TAI_PLEXER_ACTIVE/
  a $HOME/.tai-no-plexer bypass. New plexer_send/read/type/status
  tools, env-gated on a detected controller.
- tests/container.py + docker-compose.yml + tests/docker/Dockerfile:
  a disposable podman/docker image for the tests that must never touch
  a real machine (installing the plexer hook into a real ~/.bashrc, a
  live tmux session). Required suite (test_seal.py, test_tai.py,
  tests/plexer.py, tests/bashrc.py) gates the result; tests/rag.py
  runs as best-effort since its real-LLM dependency can't be satisfied
  inside a disposable container with no nested engine.
- tests/bashrc.py: real end-to-end hook install + bash -i auto-wrap,
  anti-recursion, tmux-active skip, non-interactive skip, a live
  TmuxPlexerController test, and an install/uninstall round-trip.
- tests/plexer.py: NativePlexerBackend under a real pty, plus a
  dedicated robustness pass (file permissions, >64KB payload framing,
  a malformed control request, a genuine self-deadlock fix in the
  write-to-child path).
- tai_test.py: the shared async process-driving framework (pipe/pty
  transport, group-wide kill-and-reap, a StdinBridge for --interactive)
  both test files build on.
- ChatClient last-resort backend: when there's no local opencode CLI
  but the sandbox box is already running, install opencode into it
  (official Node tarball, not apt -- apt's nodejs/npm pull in
  webpack/babel/jest as transitive deps) and route through it instead
  of giving up. Only reachable after the first retry round already
  failed everything else; never creates the box itself. TmuxPlexerController.status()
  fixed to use `list-panes` instead of `display-message -p`, which
  silently fell back to the default pane instead of erroring against
  a dead target.
- Fix 4 pre-existing test_tai.py bugs surfaced by running it in a
  clean environment for the first time: two stale mock signatures
  (subprocess.run's stdout= kwarg, Chat.complete's deadline= kwarg),
  one $TMUX-dependent catalog assertion, one tty-dependent color
  assertion.
- research/: a sourced research archive (Source Dossier/Citation
  Card/Conclusion tiers) backing the above design decisions, with its
  own audit.py consistency checker.
- .gitignore: fix a blanket *.md rule that was about to silently drop
  the entire research/ archive from version control; add __pycache__/
  and the one-off debug transcript this session started from.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-10 04:36:05 +02:00

2.5 KiB

CPython bug reports: asyncio.wait_for() timeout does not kill the awaited process

Metadata

Field Value
Institute Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division
Subject async-pty-process-testing
Document type Source Dossier
Tier 1
Source title bugs.python.org msg233486, and companion msg357930
Source URL https://bugs.python.org/msg233486
Source publisher / author Python core development bug tracker (bugs.python.org / BPO)
Source type other (official bug tracker message)
Source date (published) Unknown — not stated
Date researched 2026-10-09
Researched by tai (agent), model: Claude Sonnet 5, on behalf of retoor
Research method web search synthesis
Confidence High
Status Active

Summary

Official CPython bug tracker messages confirming that asyncio.wait_for() timing out does not, by itself, terminate the coroutine/process it was waiting on — the awaited operation can continue running in the background after the TimeoutError is raised to the caller.

Key findings

  • A bug report describes wait_for() timing out while the process it was waiting on continued living in the background — the timeout only stops waiting, it does not reach into and stop the underlying operation.
  • This is documented as a known, discussed behavior in CPython's own bug tracker (two related messages), not a one-off misunderstanding.

Pros / strengths

  • Primary-source, from the language's own bug tracker — about as authoritative as a finding in this subject gets.
  • Directly actionable: it tells you precisely what wait_for() does not do for you, closing a dangerous assumption gap.

Cons / limitations / caveats

  • Only the two referenced messages were reviewed, not the full bug thread's eventual resolution or whether later Python versions changed this behavior.

Relevance to tai

This is the specific reason tai_test.py.TestCase.execute() never treats a caught asyncio.TimeoutError (from the asyncio.wait_for(self.run(), timeout=self.timeout) wrapping every test) as sufficient cleanup on its own. The finally block unconditionally calls await proc.terminate() for every spawned process, precisely because this source confirms the timeout itself does nothing to stop the process — only the explicit terminate() call (with its own killpg escalation and reap) does.

Changelog

Date Change
2026-10-09 Initial dossier created.