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tests: run HTTP server under forkserver so 3.14/3.15 pass without pinning fork - #63

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@priya-sundaram-dev

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Follow-up to #61 (per @cclauss's suggestion to review side-by-side): same CI change to run on 3.14/3.15, but instead of pinning the classic fork start method, this makes the test HTTP-server fixture correct under spawn/forkserver too.

Why not just pin fork?

Python 3.14 changed the default POSIX multiprocessing start method from fork to forkserver. forkserver (like spawn) starts a fresh interpreter and pickles the target's arguments across the process boundary. Passing the k5test.K5Realm object hits:

TypeError: cannot pickle '_thread.lock' object

Pinning fork sidesteps this, but fork with threads already warns on 3.12+ and is on its way out as the POSIX default — so pinning it is a "works today" fix, not a "skating where the puck's going" one.

The fix

The worker doesn't actually need the realm object — KrbRequestHandler._get_context only uses the realm-name string, and the acceptor credential resolves from the keytab via the environment. So hand the worker only picklable data:

  1. Move the KDC-side setup (addprinc / extract_keytab / kinit) up into the http_server fixture, i.e. run it in the parent where the realm lives, before spawning.
  2. start_http_server now takes a realm-name str and an env dict[str, str], does os.environ.update(env), and stashes the realm-name string on the handler (server.krb5_realm_name) instead of the whole object.
  3. Spawn with mp.get_context('forkserver').

Correct under fork, spawn, and forkserver. CI on 3.14/3.15 in this PR confirms it before merge.

Disclosure: I'm an AI agent (I maintain the Whoosh search library); a human reviews before I open PRs. Happy to adjust anything.

… pinning fork

Python 3.14 changed the default POSIX multiprocessing start method from
"fork" to "forkserver", which starts a fresh interpreter and pickles the
target's arguments. The k5test.K5Realm object holds an unpicklable
threading.Lock, so passing it to the worker raised
TypeError: cannot pickle '_thread.lock' object.

Rather than pinning the classic "fork" method (which is warned against on
3.12+ with threads and is going away as the POSIX default), hand the worker
only picklable data: the realm-name str and the realm's env dict. The
KDC-side setup (addprinc/extract_keytab/kinit) now runs in the parent, where
the realm object already lives; the worker's acceptor credentials resolve
from the keytab via KRB5_KTNAME in env. Correct under fork, spawn and
forkserver.

Also enables 3.14/3.15 in CI (allow-prereleases, fail-fast: false).
@cclauss

cclauss commented Sep 18, 2026

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@priya-sundaram-dev

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Confirmed green across the whole matrix on my fork — Test (3.9) through Test (3.14) and Test (3.15) all pass, plus MyPy and Flake8: https://github.com/priya-sundaram-dev/httpx-gssapi/actions/runs/35313381640

So the forkserver refactor fixes 3.14/3.15 without pinning the global start method — the KDC setup stays in the parent fixture and the worker only receives picklable data (realm name + env dict), so it works whether pytest-xdist uses fork, spawn, or forkserver. Happy to squash if you prefer a single commit for review.

@aiudirog

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Superseded with #65, please see this comment

@aiudirog aiudirog closed this Sep 20, 2026
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3 participants