Exiting Python REPL prompt with user without home directory throws error in atexit._run_exitfuncs

[vajrasky]

BPO	19891
Nosy	@pitrou, @bitdancer, @methane, @vajrasky, @asottile, @miss-islington
PRs	bpo-19891: ignore error writing history with no homedir #8483 [3.7] bpo-19891: Ignore error while writing history file (GH-8483) #8684 [3.6] bpo-19891: Ignore error while writing history file (GH-8483) #8685

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2018-08-06.09:42:26.458>
created_at = <Date 2013-12-05.04:22:10.425>
labels = ['3.7', '3.8', 'type-bug', 'library']
title = 'Exiting Python REPL prompt with user without home directory throws error in atexit._run_exitfuncs'
updated_at = <Date 2018-08-06.09:42:26.454>
user = 'https://github.com/vajrasky'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2018-08-06.09:42:26.454>
actor = 'methane'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2018-08-06.09:42:26.458>
closer = 'methane'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2013-12-05.04:22:10.425>
creator = 'vajrasky'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 19891
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 14.0
messages = ['205273', '205295', '205298', '205300', '205304', '205371', '205372', '205373', '218490', '305161', '322435', '323184', '323186', '323187']
nosy_count = 8.0
nosy_names = ['pitrou', 'r.david.murray', 'methane', 'ejo', 'vajrasky', 'Anthony Sottile', 'dj3ei', 'miss-islington']
pr_nums = ['8483', '8684', '8685']
priority = 'low'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue19891'
versions = ['Python 3.6', 'Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

[vajrasky]

$ sudo adduser --no-create-home cutecat
Adding user `cutecat' ...
Adding new group `cutecat' (1007) ...
Adding new user `cutecat' (1005) with group `cutecat' ...
Not creating home directory `/home/cutecat'.
Enter new UNIX password: 
Retype new UNIX password: 
passwd: password updated successfully
Changing the user information for cutecat
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
	Full Name []: 
	Room Number []: 
	Work Phone []: 
	Home Phone []: 
	Other []: 
Is the information correct? [Y/n] Y

$ su cutecat
Password: 

$ ./python
Python 3.4.0b1 (default:1f1498fe50e5, Dec  5 2013, 09:48:25) 
[GCC 4.7.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
$

Python 2.7 and 3.3 do not throw error.

$ ./python
Python 3.3.3+ (3.3:07425df887b5+, Dec  2 2013, 12:27:06) 
[GCC 4.7.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
[60778 refs]
[41580 refs]
$

$ ./python
Python 2.7.6+ (2.7:181ced5bf0be, Dec  4 2013, 11:23:42) 
[GCC 4.7.2] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
$

[bitdancer]

This is presumably due to the new default enabling of readline, where it is trying to save the history file when it exits.

[pitrou]

For the record, why did you close as invalid?

[bitdancer]

Not sure who you meant by 'you', but just in case you meant me, Vajrasky was the one who closed it.

[vajrasky]

I closed it because I could not reproduce it anymore.

I think, it worked again after

$ ./python -S

I will open it again if I can consistently reproduce this bug.

[vajrasky]

Okay, this bug is valid. I can reproduce it in Ubuntu and Fedora.

bash-4.2$ ./python
Python 3.4.0b1 (default:7a668179d691, Dec  6 2013, 21:44:31) 
[GCC 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
bash-4.2$ ./python -S
Python 3.4.0b1 (default:7a668179d691, Dec  6 2013, 21:44:31) 
[GCC 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)] on linux
>>> 
bash-4.2$

[vajrasky]

Additional information:

When I created /home/cutecat with another user account.

bash-4.2$ ./python
Python 3.4.0b1 (default:7a668179d691, Dec  6 2013, 21:44:31) 
[GCC 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

Of course, so I change the ownership of /home/cutecat to cutecat. Then it works.

bash-4.2$ ./python
Python 3.4.0b1 (default:7a668179d691, Dec  6 2013, 21:44:31) 
[GCC 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> 
bash-4.2$

So what did it try to do in /home/cutecat?

[sky@localhost cpython]$ ls -la /home/cutecat/
total 8
drwxr-xr-x. 2 cutecat root 4096 Dec 6 21:50 .
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root root 4096 Dec 6 21:50 ..
-rw-------. 1 cutecat cutecat 0 Dec 6 21:50 .python_history

So I leave to core Python developers to decide whether this ticket is valid or not.

[pitrou]

The main question here is whether "interactive user without a home directory" is a valid / common use case. I think silencing the FileNotFoundError would be ok.

(however, the "home directory with wrong permissions" case sounds crazy)

[ejo]

I'm getting the same PermissionError 13:

Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied

My case is: I'm running Python 3.4.0 as a non-root user in a docker.io container built on ubuntu 14.04. This user was created during the creation (Dockerfile) of the container. The user has a home directory and that directory appears to have the usual/proper permissions. When I exit the python3 REPL I get this error even if all I did was start python3 from the command line and then immediately exit.

So maybe the cause is other, or more subtle, than just a user with no home dir or home dir with unusual perms?