Python: ulimit and nice for subprocess.call / subprocess.Popen?

Question

I need to limit the amount of time and cpu taken by external command line apps I spawn from a python process using subprocess.call , mainly because sometimes the spawned pro

Answer 1

Erik made it easy for me, but he forgot the nice part which Rich Pointed out. I find the psutil package nice(pun intended) but unfortunately less portable. Here is my take at the question:

import os
import psutil
import resource
import subprocess

def preexec_fn():
    pid = os.getpid()
    ps = psutil.Process(pid)
    ps.set_nice(10)
    resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_CPU, (1, 1))

print "mother pid", os.getpid()
p = subprocess.Popen(["./cpuhog.sh"], preexec_fn=preexec_fn)
p.wait()
print "mother still alive with pid", os.getpid()

Ville used the shell=True to which I'm somehow allergic. Perhaps I'm just old and grumpy here, but I try to avoid it!