problems with os.system and shell redirection on Windows XP

[manlioperillo]

BPO	1463104
Nosy	@tim-one

^{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 2006-04-05.20:21:21.000>
created_at = <Date 2006-04-02.17:18:41.000>
labels = ['library']
title = 'problems with os.system and shell redirection on Windows XP'
updated_at = <Date 2006-04-05.20:21:21.000>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/manlioperillo'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2006-04-05.20:21:21.000>
actor = 'manlioperillo'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2006-04-02.17:18:41.000>
creator = 'manlioperillo'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 1463104
keywords = []
message_count = 3.0
messages = ['28028', '28029', '28030']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['tim.peters', 'manlioperillo']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'wont fix'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue1463104'
versions = []

[manlioperillo]

Python 2.4.3 (#69, Mar 29 2006, 17:35:34) [MSC v.1310
32 bit (Intel)] on win32 - Windows XP SP2

N.B. sorry for italian error messages.

With the following script:

# redirection.py
import os
import sys


os.system(sys.argv[1])

---

When doing:
redirection.py "dir" > redirection.txt

I obtain:
Spazio su disco insufficiente.

Instead with:
redirection.py "svn help" > redirection.txt

svn: Errore di scrittura: Bad file descriptor

This is a Python problem because with an equivalent
program written in C++:

// redirection.c++
#include <cstdlib>


int main(int argc, char** argv) {
  std::system(argv[1]);
    }

---

there are no problems.

Thanks and regards Manlio Perillo

[tim-one]

Logged In: YES
user_id=31435

Sorry, there's nothing Python can do about this -- it's a
well-known family of Windows bugs, and affects all scripts
(regardless of language) that try to combine command line
I/O redirection with implicit determination of the
executable via file association. As you've discovered, it
doesn't effect .exe files (which is why your C++ example
isn't relevant). Various versions of Windows fail in
various ways, but in no version of Windows to date have all
the redirections bugs been fixed.

For example, here I'll reproduce your symptoms exactly with
Perl scripts on WinXP, although the error messages are English:

C:\Perl\bin>type blah1.pl
system("dir");

C:\Perl\bin>blah1.pl > out.txt
There is not enough space on the disk.

C:\Perl\bin>type blah2.pl
system("svn help");

C:\Perl\bin>blah2.pl > out.txt
svn: Write error: Bad file descriptor

The simplest and most reliable workaround is to put the path
to the executable first on the command line. Here are the
same Perl examples doing that; the same kind of thing works
for all cases in which Windows redirection doesn't work
(including, of course, Python):

C:\Perl\bin>.\perl blah1.pl > out.txt

C:\Perl\bin>type out.txt
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 5C0F-48E6

Directory of C:\Perl\bin

04/05/2006 02:29 PM <DIR> .
04/05/2006 02:29 PM <DIR> ..
02/04/2003 03:35 PM 90,175 a2p.exe
[etc]

C:\Perl\bin>.\perl blah2.pl > out.txt

C:\Perl\bin>type out.txt
usage: svn <subcommand> [options] [args]
Subversion command-line client, version 1.2.3.
[etc]

[manlioperillo]

Logged In: YES
user_id=1054957

Thanks for the detailed response.

As a joke, I have written this code at the begin of the script:

os.dup2(2, 3) # backup fd 2

os.dup2(1, 2)
os.dup2(2, 1)

os.dup2(3, 2) # restore fd 2

and it *seems* to work!