Article: Troubleshooting, part II: /proc and Python (Shallow Thoughts)

Article: Troubleshooting, part II: /proc and Python

My article this week on Linux Planet concerns Advanced Linux Server Troubleshooting (part 2).

It's two loosely related topics: exploring the /proc filesystem, and how to use it to find information on a running process; and several ways to get stack traces from Python programs.

This (as well as Troubleshooting part I) arose from a problem we had at work, where we use Linux plug computers (ARM-based Linux appliances) running Python scripts. It's not uncommon for Python networking scripts to go into never-never-land, waiting forever on a network connection without timing out. Since plug computers tend not to be outfitted with the latest and greatest tools like gdb and debug versions of libraries, we've needed to find more creative ways of figuring out what processes are doing to make sure our programs are ready for anything.