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Killing a process created with Python's subprocess.Popen()

Asked 2010-11-03T04:53:02.123
97

Here is my thought:

First of all, I created a process by using subprocess.Popen

Second, after certain amount of time, I tried to kill it by Popen.kill()

import subprocess
import os, signal
import time

proc1 = subprocess.Popen("kvm -hda /path/xp.img", shell = True)
time.sleep(2.0)
print 'proc1 = ', proc1.pid
subprocess.Popen.kill(proc1)

However, "proc1" still exists after Popen.kill(). Could any experts tell me how to solve this issue? I appreciate your considerations.

Thanks to the comments from all experts, I did all you recommended, but result still remains the same.

proc1.kill() #it sill cannot kill the proc1

os.kill(proc1.pid, signal.SIGKILL) # either cannot kill the proc1

Thank you all the same.

And I am still waiting for your precious experience on solving this delicate issue.

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1 Answer

57

In your code it should be

proc1.kill()

Both kill or terminate are methods of the Popen object. On macOS and Linux, kill sends the signal signal.SIGKILL to the process and terminate sends signal.SIGTERM. On Windows they both call Windows' TerminateProcess() function.

answered 2010-11-03T05:02:23.517

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