Exception in idle (python 2.7) - possible bug in idle? - database

Question

I'm trying to run a meta-analysis on a database of fMRI data, using the neurosynth python library through idle. When I try to run even some of the most basic functions, I get an error, not an error my own code, or in the neurosynth modules, the error seems to be a bug in idle itself.
I uninstalled and reinstalled python 2.7, reinstalled neurosynth and its dependencies, and ran into the same error. I've pasted my code below, followed by the error message, which appears in the unix shell (not in the idle shell).
Has anybody come across this error before using idle and python 2.7?
The script:
from neurosynth.base.dataset import Dataset
from neurosynth.analysis import meta, decode, network
import neurosynth
neurosynth.set_logging_level('info')
dataset = Dataset('data/database.txt')
dataset.add_features('data/features.txt')
dataset.save('dataset.pkl')
print 'done'
The error message which appeared in the unix shell:
----------------------------------------
Unhandled server exception!
Thread: SockThread
Client Address: ('127.0.0.1', 46779)
Request: <socket._socketobject object at 0xcb8d7c0>
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 284, in _handle_request_noblock
self.process_request(request, client_address)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 310, in process_request
self.finish_request(request, client_address)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 323, in finish_request
self.RequestHandlerClass(request, client_address, self)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 503, in __init__
SocketServer.BaseRequestHandler.__init__(self, sock, addr, svr)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/SocketServer.py", line 638, in __init__
self.handle()
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/run.py", line 265, in handle
rpc.RPCHandler.getresponse(self, myseq=None, wait=0.05)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 280, in getresponse
response = self._getresponse(myseq, wait)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 300, in _getresponse
response = self.pollresponse(myseq, wait)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 424, in pollresponse
message = self.pollmessage(wait)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 376, in pollmessage
packet = self.pollpacket(wait)
File "/usr/global/python/2.7.3/lib/python2.7/idlelib/rpc.py", line 347, in pollpacket
r, w, x = select.select([self.sock.fileno()], [], [], wait)
error: (4, 'Interrupted system call')
*** Unrecoverable, server exiting!
----------------------------------------
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Idle is meant for interactive exploration in the shell, for editing in an editor, and for testing programs by running them from an editor. It is not meant for production running of programs once developed. If there is a problem, one should separate the Idle part from the running with Python part. So in the unix shell, run python -m idlelib (for instance) to see if Idle starts correctly. Then, in an appropriate directory, run python path-to-my-file.py. Which does not work?
The error message is definitely odd, as it has more than just the python traceback. On the other hand, it does not start with a line of your code. I have no idea why the select call would be interrupted.