Using threads in PyGObject with GTK3 in python3

Question

So I am trying to use threads to implement a blocking operation in a Python3 based application.

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import gi, os, threading, Skype4Py
gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
from gi.repository import Gtk, GLib, GObject

skype = Skype4Py.Skype()

def ConnectSkype():
    skype.Attach()

class Contacts_Listbox_Row(Gtk.ListBoxRow):

    def __init__(self, name):
        # super is not a good idea, needs replacement.
        super(Gtk.ListBoxRow, self).__init__()
        self.names = name
        self.add(Gtk.Label(label=name))

class MainInterfaceWindow(Gtk.Window):
    """The Main User UI"""

    def __init__(self):
        Gtk.Window.__init__(self, title="Python-GTK-Frontend")

        # Set up Grid object
        main_grid = Gtk.Grid()
        self.add(main_grid)

        # Create a listbox which will contain selectable contacts
        contacts_listbox = Gtk.ListBox()
        for handle, name in self.GetContactTuples():
            GLib.idle_add(contacts_listbox.add, Contacts_Listbox_Row(name))
        GLib.idle_add(main_grid.add, contacts_listbox)


        # Test label for debug
        label = Gtk.Label()
        label.set_text("Test")
        GLib.idle_add(main_grid.attach_next_to, label, contacts_listbox, Gtk.PositionType.TOP, 2, 1)

    def GetContactTuples(self):
        """
        Returns a list of tuples in the form: (username, display name).
        Return -1 if failure.
        """
        print([(user.Handle, user.FullName) for user in skype.Friends]) # debug
        return [(user.Handle, user.FullName) for user in skype.Friends]

if __name__ == '__main__':

        threads = []

        thread = threading.Thread(target=ConnectSkype) # potentially blocking operation
        thread.start()
        threads.append(thread)

        main_window = MainInterfaceWindow()
        main_window.connect("delete-event", Gtk.main_quit)
        main_window.show_all()
        print('Calling Gtk.main')
        Gtk.main()

The basic idea is this simple program should fetch a list of contacts from the Skype API, and build a list of tuples. The GetContactTuples function succeeds in its design, the print call I placed verifies that. However, the program hangs indefinitely, and never renders an interface. Sometimes, it will yield random errors involving threads and/or resource availability. Once such error is

(example.py:31248): Gdk-WARNING **: example.py: Fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server :1.

I know it is related to the use of threads, but based on the documentation here, it seems like just adding GLib.idle_add calls before interface updates should be sufficient. So the questions are, why does this not work, and how could I correct the above sample?

UPDATE: If GLib.idle_add is prepended to every line that interacts with GTK that it can be, I get a different error. [xcb] Unknown request in queue while dequeuing [xcb] Most likely this is a multi-threaded client and XInitThreads has not been called [xcb] Aborting, sorry about that. python: xcb_io.c:179: dequeue_pending_request: Assertion '!xcb_xlib_unknown_req_in_deq' failed. Aborted (core dumped)

A quick update, if ConnectSkype() is not run in a thread, it has the exact same result, so the thread is completely useless. However, Skype4Py must use a thread internally, as it yields the same errors. — Raven King
– Raven King, Commented Mar 17, 2016 at 19:38

cirrusio · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-29 23:02:04Z

1

Depending on your library version (this was no longer necessary in Gobject 3.10.2) you might need to actually need to explicitly initialize your threads using GObject.threads_init() as below:

if __name__ == '__main__':

    threads = []

    thread = threading.Thread(target=ConnectSkype) # potentially blocking operation
    thread.start()
    threads.append(thread)

    main_window = MainInterfaceWindow()
    main_window.connect("delete-event", Gtk.main_quit)

    GObject.threads_init()

    main_window.show_all()
    print('Calling Gtk.main')
    Gtk.main()

answered May 29, 2018 at 23:02

cirrusio

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