--- a/python/process.py	Tue Feb 03 14:55:04 2015 -0800
+++ b/python/process.py	Mon Feb 09 19:45:19 2015 -0800
@@ -1,52 +1,274 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+"""
+multiprocessing/subprocess front-end
+"""
+
+# imports
+import argparse
+import atexit
 import os
-import shlex
-import subprocess
+import signal
+import subprocess # http://bugs.python.org/issue1731717
 import sys
+import time
+import tempfile
+
+
+# globals
+__all__ = ['Process']
+string = (str, unicode)
+PIDS = set()
+
+# ensure subprocesses gets killed on exit
+def killall():
+    """kill all subprocess PIDs"""
+    global PIDS
+    for pid in PIDS.copy():
+        try:
+            os.kill(pid, 9) # SIGKILL
+            PIDS.discard(pid)
+        except:
+            sys.stderr.write("Unable to kill PID {}\n".format(pid))
+atexit.register(killall)
+
+
+signals = (signal.SIGHUP, signal.SIGINT, signal.SIGQUIT, signal.SIGSEGV, signal.SIGTERM) # signals to handle
+fatal = set([signal.SIGINT, signal.SIGSEGV, signal.SIGKILL, signal.SIGTERM])
+# ensure subprocesses get killed on signals
+def sighandler(signum, frame):
+    """https://docs.python.org/2/library/signal.html"""
+    sys.stderr.write('Signal handler called with signal {}\n; terminating subprocesses: {}'.format(signum,
+                                                                                                   ', '.join([str(pid) for pid in sorted(PIDS)])))
+    killall()
+    if signum in fatal:
+        print ("Caught signal {}; exiting".format(signum))
+        sys.exit()
+for signum in signals:
+    try:
+        signal.signal(signum, sighandler)
+    except RuntimeError as e:
+        print ('[{}] {}'.format(signum, e))
+        raise
+
+class Process(subprocess.Popen):
+    """why would you name a subprocess object Popen?"""
+
+    # http://docs.python.org/2/library/subprocess.html#popen-constructor
+    defaults = {'bufsize': 1, # line buffered
+                'store_output': True, # store stdout
+                }
+
+    def __init__(self, command, **kwargs):
+
+        # get verbosity
+        self.verbose = kwargs.pop('verbose', False)
+
+        # setup arguments
+        self.command = command
+        _kwargs = self.defaults.copy()
+        _kwargs.update(kwargs)
+
+
+        # on unix, ``shell={True|False}`` should always come from the
+        # type of command (string or list)
+        if not subprocess.mswindows:
+            _kwargs['shell'] = isinstance(command, string)
+
+        # output buffer
+        self.location = 0
+        self.output_buffer = tempfile.SpooledTemporaryFile()
+        self.output = '' if _kwargs.pop('store_output') else None
+        _kwargs['stdout'] = self.output_buffer
+
+        # ensure child in process group
+        # see :
+        # - http://pymotw.com/2/subprocess/#process-groups-sessions
+        # - http://ptspts.blogspot.com/2012/11/how-to-start-and-kill-unix-process-tree.html
+        _kwargs['preexec_fn'] = os.setpgrp
+
+        # runtime
+        self.start = time.time()
+        self.end = None
+
+        if self.verbose:
+            # print useful info
+            print ("Running `{}`; started: {}".format(str(self), self.start))
+
+        # launch subprocess
+        try:
+            subprocess.Popen.__init__(self, command, **_kwargs)
+            PIDS.add(self.pid)
+            if self.verbose:
+                # print the PID
+                print ("PID: {}".format(self.pid))
+        except:
+            # print the command
+            print ("Failure to run:")
+            print (self.command)
+
+            # reraise the hard way:
+            # http://www.ianbicking.org/blog/2007/09/re-raising-exceptions.html
+            exc = sys.exc_info()
+            raise exc[0], exc[1], exc[2]
+
+
+    def _finalize(self, process_output):
+        """internal function to finalize"""
+
+        # read final output
+        if process_output is not None:
+            self.read(process_output)
+
+        # reset output buffer location
+        self.output_buffer.seek(0)
+
+        # set end time
+        self.end = time.time()
+
+        # remove PID from list
+        PIDS.discard(self.pid)
+
+    def poll(self, process_output=None):
 
-def ps(arg='axwww'):
-    """
-    python front-end to `ps`
-    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps_%28Unix%29
-    returns a list of process dicts based on the `ps` header
-    """
-    retval = []
-    process = subprocess.Popen(['ps', arg], stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-    stdout, _ = process.communicate()
-    header = None
-    for line in stdout.splitlines():
-        line = line.strip()
-        if header is None:
-            # first line is the header
-            header = line.split()
-            continue
-        split = line.split(None, len(header)-1)
-        process_dict = dict(zip(header, split))
-        retval.append(process_dict)
-    return retval
+        if process_output is not None:
+            self.read(process_output) # read from output buffer
+        poll = subprocess.Popen.poll(self)
+        if poll is not None:
+            self._finalize(process_output)
+        return poll
+
+    def wait(self, maxtime=None, sleep=1., process_output=None):
+        """
+        maxtime -- timeout in seconds
+        sleep -- number of seconds to sleep between polling
+        """
+        while self.poll(process_output) is None:
+
+            # check for timeout
+            curr_time = time.time()
+            run_time = self.runtime()
+            if maxtime is not None and run_time > maxtime:
+                self.kill()
+                self._finalize(process_output)
+                return
+
+            # naptime
+            if sleep:
+                time.sleep(sleep)
+
+        # finalize
+        self._finalize(process_output)
+
+        return self.returncode # set by ``.poll()``
+
+    def read(self, process_output=None):
+        """read from the output buffer"""
+
+        self.output_buffer.seek(self.location)
+        read = self.output_buffer.read()
+        if self.output is not None:
+            self.output += read
+        if process_output:
+            process_output(read)
+        self.location += len(read)
+        return read
+
+    def commandline(self):
+        """returns string of command line"""
+
+        if isinstance(self.command, string):
+            return self.command
+        return subprocess.list2cmdline(self.command)
+
+    __str__ = commandline
+
+    def runtime(self):
+        """returns time spent running or total runtime if completed"""
+
+        if self.end is None:
+            return time.time() - self.start
+        return self.end - self.start
+
+
+def main(args=sys.argv[1:]):
+    """CLI"""
+
+    description = """demonstration of how to do things with subprocess"""
+
+    # available programs
+    progs = {'yes': ["yes"],
+             'ping': ['ping', 'google.com']}
 
-def running_processes(name, psarg='axwww', defunct=True):
-    """
-    returns a list of 2-tuples of running processes:
-    (pid, ['path/to/executable', 'args', '...'])
-     with the executable named `name`.
-     - defunct: whether to return defunct processes
-    """
-    retval = []
-    for process in ps(psarg):
-        command = process['COMMAND']
-        command = shlex.split(command)
-        if command[-1] == '<defunct>':
-            command = command[:-1]
-            if not command or not defunct:
-                continue
-        prog = command[0]
-        basename = os.path.basename(prog)
-        if basename == name:
-            retval.append((int(process['PID']), command))
-    return retval
+    # parse command line
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=description)
+    parser.add_argument("-t", "--time", dest="time",
+                        type=float, default=4.,
+                        help="seconds to run for (or <= 0 for forever)")
+    parser.add_argument("-s", "--sleep", dest="sleep",
+                        type=float, default=1.,
+                        help="sleep this number of seconds between polling")
+    parser.add_argument("-p", "--prog", dest='program',
+                        choices=progs.keys(), default='ping',
+                        help="subprocess to run")
+    parser.add_argument("--list-programs", dest='list_programs',
+                        action='store_true', default=False,
+                        help="list available programs")
+    parser.add_argument("--wait", dest='wait',
+                        action='store_true', default=False,
+                        help="run with ``.wait()`` and a callback")
+    parser.add_argument("--callback", dest='callback',
+                        action='store_true', default=False,
+                        help="run with polling and a callback")
+    options = parser.parse_args(args)
+
+    # list programs
+    if options.list_programs:
+        for key in sorted(progs.keys()):
+            print ('{}: {}'.format(key, subprocess.list2cmdline(progs[key])))
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+    # select program
+    prog = progs[options.program]
+
+    # start process
+    proc = Process(prog)
+
+    # demo function for processing output
+    def output_processor(output):
+        print ('[{}]:\n{}\n{}'.format(proc.runtime(),
+                                      output.upper(),
+                                      '-==-'*10))
+    if options.callback:
+        process_output = output_processor
+    else:
+        process_output = None
+
+    if options.wait:
+        # wait for being done
+        proc.wait(maxtime=options.time, sleep=options.sleep, process_output=output_processor)
+    else:
+        # start the main subprocess loop
+        while proc.poll(process_output) is None:
+
+            if options.time > 0 and proc.runtime() > options.time:
+                proc.kill()
+
+            if options.sleep:
+                time.sleep(options.sleep)
+
+            if process_output is None:
+                # process the output with ``.read()`` call
+                read = proc.read()
+                output_processor(read)
+
+    # correctness tests
+    assert proc.end is not None
+
+    # print summary
+    output = proc.output
+    n_lines = len(output.splitlines())
+    print ("{}: {} lines, ran for {} seconds".format(subprocess.list2cmdline(prog), n_lines, proc.runtime()))
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    for arg in sys.argv[1:]:
-        processes = running_processes(arg)
-        for pid, command in processes:
-            print '%s %s : %s' % (pid, arg, command)
+    main()