Run interactive Bash with popen and a dedicated TTY Python

Solution 1:

This is a solution to run an interactive command in subprocess. It uses pseudo-terminal to make stdout non-blocking(also some command needs a tty device, eg. bash). it uses select to handle input and ouput to the subprocess.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import os
import sys
import select
import termios
import tty
import pty
from subprocess import Popen

command = 'bash'
# command = 'docker run -it --rm centos /bin/bash'.split()

# save original tty setting then set it to raw mode
old_tty = termios.tcgetattr(sys.stdin)
tty.setraw(sys.stdin.fileno())

# open pseudo-terminal to interact with subprocess
master_fd, slave_fd = pty.openpty()


try:
    # use os.setsid() make it run in a new process group, or bash job control will not be enabled
    p = Popen(command,
              preexec_fn=os.setsid,
              stdin=slave_fd,
              stdout=slave_fd,
              stderr=slave_fd,
              universal_newlines=True)

    while p.poll() is None:
        r, w, e = select.select([sys.stdin, master_fd], [], [])
        if sys.stdin in r:
            d = os.read(sys.stdin.fileno(), 10240)
            os.write(master_fd, d)
        elif master_fd in r:
            o = os.read(master_fd, 10240)
            if o:
                os.write(sys.stdout.fileno(), o)
finally:
    # restore tty settings back
    termios.tcsetattr(sys.stdin, termios.TCSADRAIN, old_tty)

Solution 2:

This is the solution that worked for me at the end (as suggested by qarma) :

libc = ctypes.CDLL('libc.so.6')

master, slave = pty.openpty()
p = subprocess.Popen(["/bin/bash", "-i"], preexec_fn=libc.setsid, stdin=slave, stdout=slave, stderr=slave)
os.close(slave)

... do stuff here ...

x = os.read(master, 1026)
print x