Use numpy array in shared memory for multiprocessing

问题:

I would like to use a numpy array in shared memory for use with the multiprocessing module. The difficulty is using it like a numpy array, and not just as a ctypes array.

from multiprocessing import Process, Array import scipy  def f(a):     a[0] = -a[0]  if __name__ == '__main__':     # Create the array     N = int(10)     unshared_arr = scipy.rand(N)     arr = Array('d', unshared_arr)     print "Originally, the first two elements of arr = %s"%(arr[:2])      # Create, start, and finish the child processes     p = Process(target=f, args=(arr,))     p.start()     p.join()      # Printing out the changed values     print "Now, the first two elements of arr = %s"%arr[:2] 

This produces output such as:

Originally, the first two elements of arr = [0.3518653236697369, 0.517794725524976] Now, the first two elements of arr = [-0.3518653236697369, 0.517794725524976] 

The array can be accessed in a ctypes manner, e.g. arr[i] makes sense. However, it is not a numpy array, and I cannot perform operations such as -1*arr, or arr.sum(). I suppose a solution would be to convert the ctypes array into a numpy array. However (besides not being able to make this work), I don't believe it would be shared anymore.

It seems there would be a standard solution to what has to be a common problem.

回答1:

To add to @unutbu's (not available anymore) and @Henry Gomersall's answers. You could use shared_arr.get_lock() to synchronize access when needed:

shared_arr = mp.Array(ctypes.c_double, N) # ... def f(i): # could be anything numpy accepts as an index such another numpy array     with shared_arr.get_lock(): # synchronize access         arr = np.frombuffer(shared_arr.get_obj()) # no data copying         arr[i] = -arr[i] 

Example

import ctypes import logging import multiprocessing as mp  from contextlib import closing  import numpy as np  info = mp.get_logger().info  def main():     logger = mp.log_to_stderr()     logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)      # create shared array     N, M = 100, 11     shared_arr = mp.Array(ctypes.c_double, N)     arr = tonumpyarray(shared_arr)      # fill with random values     arr[:] = np.random.uniform(size=N)     arr_orig = arr.copy()      # write to arr from different processes     with closing(mp.Pool(initializer=init, initargs=(shared_arr,))) as p:         # many processes access the same slice         stop_f = N // 10         p.map_async(f, [slice(stop_f)]*M)          # many processes access different slices of the same array         assert M % 2 # odd         step = N // 10         p.map_async(g, [slice(i, i + step) for i in range(stop_f, N, step)])     p.join()     assert np.allclose(((-1)**M)*tonumpyarray(shared_arr), arr_orig)  def init(shared_arr_):     global shared_arr     shared_arr = shared_arr_ # must be inherited, not passed as an argument  def tonumpyarray(mp_arr):     return np.frombuffer(mp_arr.get_obj())  def f(i):     """synchronized."""     with shared_arr.get_lock(): # synchronize access         g(i)  def g(i):     """no synchronization."""     info("start %s" % (i,))     arr = tonumpyarray(shared_arr)     arr[i] = -1 * arr[i]     info("end   %s" % (i,))  if __name__ == '__main__':     mp.freeze_support()     main() 

If you don't need synchronized access or you create your own locks then mp.Array() is unnecessary. You could use mp.sharedctypes.RawArray in this case.

回答2:

The Array object has a get_obj() method associated with it, which returns the ctypes array which presents a buffer interface. I think the following should work...

from multiprocessing import Process, Array import scipy import numpy  def f(a):     a[0] = -a[0]  if __name__ == '__main__':     # Create the array     N = int(10)     unshared_arr = scipy.rand(N)     a = Array('d', unshared_arr)     print "Originally, the first two elements of arr = %s"%(a[:2])      # Create, start, and finish the child process     p = Process(target=f, args=(a,))     p.start()     p.join()      # Print out the changed values     print "Now, the first two elements of arr = %s"%a[:2]      b = numpy.frombuffer(a.get_obj())      b[0] = 10.0     print a[0] 

When run, this prints out the first element of a now being 10.0, showing a and b are just two views into the same memory.

In order to make sure it is still multiprocessor safe, I believe you will have to use the acquire and release methods that exist on the Array object, a, and its built in lock to make sure its all safely accessed (though I'm not an expert on the multiprocessor module).

回答3:

While the answers already given are good, there is a much easier solution to this problem provided two conditions are met:

1. You are on a POSIX-compliant operating system (e.g. Linux, Mac OSX); and
2. Your child processes need read-only access to the shared array.

In this case you do not need to fiddle with explicitly making variables shared, as the child processes will be created using a fork. A forked child automatically shares the parent's memory space. In the context of Python multiprocessing, this means it shares all module-level variables; note that this does not hold for arguments that you explicitly pass to your child processes or to the functions you call on a multiprocessing.Pool or so.

A simple example:

import multiprocessing import numpy as np  # will hold the (implicitly mem-shared) data data_array = None  # child worker function def job_handler(num):     # built-in id() returns unique memory ID of a variable     return id(data_array), np.sum(data_array)  def launch_jobs(data, num_jobs=5, num_worker=4):     global data_array     data_array = data      pool = multiprocessing.Pool(num_worker)     return pool.map(job_handler, range(num_jobs))  # create some random data and execute the child jobs mem_ids, sumvals = zip(*launch_jobs(np.random.rand(10)))  # this will print 'True' on POSIX OS, since the data was shared print(np.all(np.asarray(mem_ids) == id(data_array))) 

回答4:

You can use the sharedmem module: https://bitbucket.org/cleemesser/numpy-sharedmem

Here's your original code then, this time using shared memory that behaves like a NumPy array (note the additional last statement calling a NumPy sum() function):

from multiprocessing import Process import sharedmem import scipy  def f(a):     a[0] = -a[0]  if __name__ == '__main__':     # Create the array     N = int(10)     unshared_arr = scipy.rand(N)     arr = sharedmem.empty(N)     arr[:] = unshared_arr.copy()     print "Originally, the first two elements of arr = %s"%(arr[:2])      # Create, start, and finish the child process     p = Process(target=f, args=(arr,))     p.start()     p.join()      # Print out the changed values     print "Now, the first two elements of arr = %s"%arr[:2]      # Perform some NumPy operation     print arr.sum() 

回答5:

I've written a small python module that uses POSIX shared memory to share numpy arrays between python interpreters. Maybe you will find it handy.

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/SharedArray

Here's how it works:

import numpy as np import SharedArray as sa  # Create an array in shared memory a = sa.create("test1", 10)  # Attach it as a different array. This can be done from another # python interpreter as long as it runs on the same computer. b = sa.attach("test1")  # See how they are actually sharing the same memory block a[0] = 42 print(b[0])  # Destroying a does not affect b. del a print(b[0])  # See how "test1" is still present in shared memory even though we # destroyed the array a. sa.list()  # Now destroy the array "test1" from memory. sa.delete("test1")  # The array b is not affected, but once you destroy it then the # data are lost. print(b[0]) 

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