[ Python 常見問題 ] timeout on subprocess readline in python

Source From Here 
Question 
I have a small issue that I'm not quite sure how to solve. Here is a minimal example: 
What I Have 

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1. scan_process = subprocess.Popen(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)  
2. while(some_criterium):  
3.     line = scan_process.stdout.readline()  
4.     some_criterium = do_something(line)  

What I would like 

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1. scan_process = subprocess.Popen(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)  
2. while(some_criterium):  
3.     line = scan_process.stdout.readline()  
4.     if nothing_happens_after_10s:  
5.         break  
6.     else:  
7.         some_criterium = do_something(line)  

I read a line from a subprocess and do something with it. What I want is to exit if no line arrived after a fixed time interval. Any recommendations? 

How-To 
One solution is to write a thread (Here is class StdThd) to constantly read from stdout and read line from that thread: 

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1. import threading, time  
2.   
3. class StdThd(threading.Thread):  
4.     def __init__(self, stdout, threadName='test'):  
5.         super(StdThd, self).__init__(name = threadName)  
6.         self.isStop = False  
7.         self.stdout = stdout        # stdout file object  
8.         self.lines = []             # list to hold lines  
9.         self.li = 0                 # Line index  
10.         self.readBuf = []           # Buffer in reading stdout  
11.         self.autoStdout = False     # Print line to stdout  
12.   
13.     def run(self):  
14.         while not self.isStop:  
15.             c = self.stdout.read(1)  
16.             if c == '':  
17.                 self.isStop = True  
18.                 break  
19.             self.readBuf.append(c)  
20.             if self.readBuf[-1] == '\n':  
21.                 self.lines.append(''.join(self.readBuf))  
22.                 self.readBuf = []  
23.                 if self.autoStdout:  
24.                     print self.lines[-1].rstrip('\n')  
25.   
26.   
27.     def readline(self, timeout=5):  
28.         r'''  
29.            Read one line from stdout  
30.   
31.         @param timeout(int):  
32.             Timeout in second while reading one line from stdout.  
33.         '''  
34.         if self.li < len(self.lines):  
35.             line = self.lines[self.li]  
36.             self.li = self.li + 1  
37.             return line  
38.         else:  
39.             loop = timeout * 1000 / 100; cnt = 0  
40.             while True:  
41.                 time.sleep(0.1)  
42.                 if self.li < len(self.lines):  
43.                     line = self.lines[self.li]  
44.                     self.li = self.li + 1  
45.                     return line  
46.                 cnt = cnt + 1  
47.                 if cnt > loop:  
48.                     return None  

Then consider a test shell: 
- test.sh 

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1. #!/bin/sh  
2. var=0  
3. while [ "$var" -lt 10 ]; do  
4.     var=$((var+1))  
5.     echo "This is for testing: $var"  
6.     sleep 10  
7. done  

Then you can use class StdThd to read line from stdout this way: 

>>> import subprocess
>>> p = subprocess.Popen(['./test.sh'], stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT) # Execute test.sh
>>> stdThd = StdThd(p.stdout)
>>> stdThd.start()
>>> stdThd.readline()
'This is for testing: 1\n'
>>> stdThd.readline() # If readline() timeout, None is returned. Default timeout is 5 second
>>> stdThd.is_alive()
True # Thread is running
>>> p.terminate() # Terminate the process
>>> stdThd.is_alive()
False # Thread is not running

Supplement 
* How can I run an external command asynchronously from Python?