what does a python process return code -9 mean?

Question

I have a python script which returns the exit status of -9.

I tried to get the root of the problem with the atexit module, but it does not get called.

Any hints to help me find why and where my script terminates?

The problem is reproducible, operating system: linux 3.7.10

Answer 1

The script was killed by the operating system. Negative return values are the signal number which was used to kill the process.

The script needed too much memory. I found this in syslog:

Out of memory: Kill process 26184 (python) score 439 or sacrifice child
Killed process 26184 (python) total-vm:628772kB, anon-rss:447660kB, file-rss:0kB