Problem while running youtube-dl as a Python script

[samrat]

When I try to run youtube-dl as a Python script using
python youtubedl.py
(youtube.dl.py is a Python file with youtube-dl's source code), the download completes successfully but the Python script fails to terminate. How can this problem be solved?

[phihag]

Sorry, I can't reproduce this problem on my machine. Can you include the full command-line which reproduces the problem? (Or does it occur when literally executing youtube-dl without arguments?) Also, a screenshot would be nice.

What operating system and Python version are you on?

[samrat]

phihad- python youtubedl.py -o 'filename.flv' http://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID

As I mentioned before, the video downloads fully, its just that youtube-dl doesn't close, so that the flow of my program can continue.

[phihag]

Sorry samrat, but I need a little more information than that. A screenshot would be nice, and it should also contain the output of

python youtubedl.py --version
python --version

For example, your above command shows the following result for me on debian sid (x64):

$ python youtubedl.py -o 'filename.flv' http://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEOID
[youtube] Setting language
[youtube] VIDEOID: Downloading video webpage
ERROR: unable to download video webpage: HTTP Error 404: Not Found
$ # youtube-dl stopped here.

Also, if you're executing youtube-dl this in another program, could you share the relevant code portion? It might be a bug in there.

[samrat]

Here's the code I used to execute youtube-dl:
download_command = "python2.7 youtubedl.py -o '../data/%s' %s;" % (filename, youtube_url) os.system(download_command)

and the output:

[youtube] Setting language
[youtube] rIkVeAb56Z4: Downloading video webpage
[youtube] rIkVeAb56Z4: Downloading video info webpage
[youtube] rIkVeAb56Z4: Extracting video information
[download] Destination: ../data/hello.flv
[download] 100.0% of 1.68M at   21.11k/s ETA 00:00 ```

[phihag]

os.system executes youtube-dl in a subshell. In this subshell, an ampersand (&) in the URL makes youtube-dl run in the background. Instead, us the subprocess module.

import subprocess
subprocess.Popen(['python2.7', 'youtubedl.py', '-o','../data' + filename, youtube_url]).communicate()

You could also put the URL in quotes, but that will fail (and allow anyone who enters the URL shell access) if it contains quotes.

[samrat]

phihag- I tried using subprocess too, the problem still persists.

[phihag]

@samrat It's not about using subprocess in general, but the way you construct the command. Can you post an extract of the subprocess version of your code?

[samrat]

def download(youtube_url): filename = 'hello.flv' download_command = "python2.7 youtubedl.py -o '../data/%s' %s;" % (filename, youtube_url.encode('utf8')) args = shlex.split(download_command) subprocess.Popen(args).communicate() return filename

[phihag]

@samrat This variant has the exact same problem, only with spaces instead of the ampersand in the URL. Why are you constructing the command as a string instead of a list, as I suggested?

Also, can you reproduce the problem in an interactive shell? If not, can you give us (or upload) a small demo program that reproduces the issue without requiring any user input?

[samrat]

@phihag- Thank you, constructing the command as a list seems to solve the problem.

[ghost]

Can you please post how you solved the issue?

[phihag]

@Anilmorab See my previous comment for the solution.