Backport PR #2926: Don't die if stderr/stdout do not support set_parent() #2925

If the user redirects the streams to a file for example,
the kernel would raise an exception because file
objects do not have set_parent defined, unlike ipython's
OutStream.
This happens even if the user does this in a spawned thread.

closes  #2925

IPython/zmq/ipkernel.py

@@ -1,922 +1,934 b''
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 """A simple interactive kernel that talks to a frontend over 0MQ.
 
 Things to do:
 
 * Implement `set_parent` logic. Right before doing exec, the Kernel should
   call set_parent on all the PUB objects with the message about to be executed.
 * Implement random port and security key logic.
 * Implement control messages.
 * Implement event loop and poll version.
 """
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Imports
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 # Standard library imports
 import __builtin__
 import atexit
 import sys
 import time
 import traceback
 import logging
 import uuid
 
 from datetime import datetime
 from signal import (
         signal, getsignal, default_int_handler, SIGINT, SIG_IGN
 )
 
 # System library imports
 import zmq
 from zmq.eventloop import ioloop
 from zmq.eventloop.zmqstream import ZMQStream
 
 # Local imports
 from IPython.config.configurable import Configurable
 from IPython.config.application import boolean_flag, catch_config_error
 from IPython.core.application import ProfileDir
 from IPython.core.error import StdinNotImplementedError
 from IPython.core.shellapp import (
     InteractiveShellApp, shell_flags, shell_aliases
 )
 from IPython.utils import io
 from IPython.utils import py3compat
 from IPython.utils.frame import extract_module_locals
 from IPython.utils.jsonutil import json_clean
 from IPython.utils.traitlets import (
     Any, Instance, Float, Dict, CaselessStrEnum, List, Set, Integer, Unicode
 )
 
 from entry_point import base_launch_kernel
 from kernelapp import KernelApp, kernel_flags, kernel_aliases
 from serialize import serialize_object, unpack_apply_message
 from session import Session, Message
 from zmqshell import ZMQInteractiveShell
 
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Main kernel class
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 class Kernel(Configurable):
 
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Kernel interface
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     # attribute to override with a GUI
     eventloop = Any(None)
     def _eventloop_changed(self, name, old, new):
         """schedule call to eventloop from IOLoop"""
         loop = ioloop.IOLoop.instance()
         loop.add_timeout(time.time()+0.1, self.enter_eventloop)
 
     shell = Instance('IPython.core.interactiveshell.InteractiveShellABC')
     session = Instance(Session)
     profile_dir = Instance('IPython.core.profiledir.ProfileDir')
     shell_streams = List()
     control_stream = Instance(ZMQStream)
     iopub_socket = Instance(zmq.Socket)
     stdin_socket = Instance(zmq.Socket)
     log = Instance(logging.Logger)
     
     user_module = Any()
     def _user_module_changed(self, name, old, new):
         if self.shell is not None:
             self.shell.user_module = new
     
     user_ns = Dict(default_value=None)
     def _user_ns_changed(self, name, old, new):
         if self.shell is not None:
             self.shell.user_ns = new
             self.shell.init_user_ns()
 
     # identities:
     int_id = Integer(-1)
     ident = Unicode()
 
     def _ident_default(self):
         return unicode(uuid.uuid4())
 
 
     # Private interface
     
     # Time to sleep after flushing the stdout/err buffers in each execute
     # cycle.  While this introduces a hard limit on the minimal latency of the
     # execute cycle, it helps prevent output synchronization problems for
     # clients.
     # Units are in seconds.  The minimum zmq latency on local host is probably
     # ~150 microseconds, set this to 500us for now.  We may need to increase it
     # a little if it's not enough after more interactive testing.
     _execute_sleep = Float(0.0005, config=True)
 
     # Frequency of the kernel's event loop.
     # Units are in seconds, kernel subclasses for GUI toolkits may need to
     # adapt to milliseconds.
     _poll_interval = Float(0.05, config=True)
 
     # If the shutdown was requested over the network, we leave here the
     # necessary reply message so it can be sent by our registered atexit
     # handler.  This ensures that the reply is only sent to clients truly at
     # the end of our shutdown process (which happens after the underlying
     # IPython shell's own shutdown).
     _shutdown_message = None
 
     # This is a dict of port number that the kernel is listening on. It is set
     # by record_ports and used by connect_request.
     _recorded_ports = Dict()
     
     # set of aborted msg_ids
     aborted = Set()
 
 
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         super(Kernel, self).__init__(**kwargs)
 
         # Initialize the InteractiveShell subclass
         self.shell = ZMQInteractiveShell.instance(config=self.config,
             profile_dir = self.profile_dir,
             user_module = self.user_module,
             user_ns     = self.user_ns,
         )
         self.shell.displayhook.session = self.session
         self.shell.displayhook.pub_socket = self.iopub_socket
         self.shell.displayhook.topic = self._topic('pyout')
         self.shell.display_pub.session = self.session
         self.shell.display_pub.pub_socket = self.iopub_socket
 
         # TMP - hack while developing
         self.shell._reply_content = None
 
         # Build dict of handlers for message types
         msg_types = [ 'execute_request', 'complete_request',
                       'object_info_request', 'history_request',
                       'connect_request', 'shutdown_request',
                       'apply_request',
                     ]
         self.shell_handlers = {}
         for msg_type in msg_types:
             self.shell_handlers[msg_type] = getattr(self, msg_type)
         
         control_msg_types = msg_types + [ 'clear_request', 'abort_request' ]
         self.control_handlers = {}
         for msg_type in control_msg_types:
             self.control_handlers[msg_type] = getattr(self, msg_type)
 
     def dispatch_control(self, msg):
         """dispatch control requests"""
         idents,msg = self.session.feed_identities(msg, copy=False)
         try:
             msg = self.session.unserialize(msg, content=True, copy=False)
         except:
             self.log.error("Invalid Control Message", exc_info=True)
             return
 
         self.log.debug("Control received: %s", msg)
 
         header = msg['header']
         msg_id = header['msg_id']
         msg_type = header['msg_type']
 
         handler = self.control_handlers.get(msg_type, None)
         if handler is None:
             self.log.error("UNKNOWN CONTROL MESSAGE TYPE: %r", msg_type)
         else:
             try:
                 handler(self.control_stream, idents, msg)
             except Exception:
                 self.log.error("Exception in control handler:", exc_info=True)
     
     def dispatch_shell(self, stream, msg):
         """dispatch shell requests"""
         # flush control requests first
         if self.control_stream:
             self.control_stream.flush()
         
         idents,msg = self.session.feed_identities(msg, copy=False)
         try:
             msg = self.session.unserialize(msg, content=True, copy=False)
         except:
             self.log.error("Invalid Message", exc_info=True)
             return
 
         header = msg['header']
         msg_id = header['msg_id']
         msg_type = msg['header']['msg_type']
         
         # Print some info about this message and leave a '--->' marker, so it's
         # easier to trace visually the message chain when debugging.  Each
         # handler prints its message at the end.
         self.log.debug('\n*** MESSAGE TYPE:%s***', msg_type)
         self.log.debug('   Content: %s\n   --->\n   ', msg['content'])
 
         if msg_id in self.aborted:
             self.aborted.remove(msg_id)
             # is it safe to assume a msg_id will not be resubmitted?
             reply_type = msg_type.split('_')[0] + '_reply'
             status = {'status' : 'aborted'}
             sub = {'engine' : self.ident}
             sub.update(status)
             reply_msg = self.session.send(stream, reply_type, subheader=sub,
                         content=status, parent=msg, ident=idents)
             return
         
         handler = self.shell_handlers.get(msg_type, None)
         if handler is None:
             self.log.error("UNKNOWN MESSAGE TYPE: %r", msg_type)
         else:
             # ensure default_int_handler during handler call
             sig = signal(SIGINT, default_int_handler)
             try:
                 handler(stream, idents, msg)
             except Exception:
                 self.log.error("Exception in message handler:", exc_info=True)
             finally:
                 signal(SIGINT, sig)
     
     def enter_eventloop(self):
         """enter eventloop"""
         self.log.info("entering eventloop")
         # restore default_int_handler
         signal(SIGINT, default_int_handler)
         while self.eventloop is not None:
             try:
                 self.eventloop(self)
             except KeyboardInterrupt:
                 # Ctrl-C shouldn't crash the kernel
                 self.log.error("KeyboardInterrupt caught in kernel")
                 continue
             else:
                 # eventloop exited cleanly, this means we should stop (right?)
                 self.eventloop = None
                 break
         self.log.info("exiting eventloop")
         # if eventloop exits, IOLoop should stop
         ioloop.IOLoop.instance().stop()
 
     def start(self):
         """register dispatchers for streams"""
         self.shell.exit_now = False
         if self.control_stream:
             self.control_stream.on_recv(self.dispatch_control, copy=False)
 
         def make_dispatcher(stream):
             def dispatcher(msg):
                 return self.dispatch_shell(stream, msg)
             return dispatcher
 
         for s in self.shell_streams:
             s.on_recv(make_dispatcher(s), copy=False)
     
     def do_one_iteration(self):
         """step eventloop just once"""
         if self.control_stream:
             self.control_stream.flush()
         for stream in self.shell_streams:
             # handle at most one request per iteration
             stream.flush(zmq.POLLIN, 1)
             stream.flush(zmq.POLLOUT)
 
 
     def record_ports(self, ports):
         """Record the ports that this kernel is using.
 
         The creator of the Kernel instance must call this methods if they
         want the :meth:`connect_request` method to return the port numbers.
         """
         self._recorded_ports = ports
 
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Kernel request handlers
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
     def _make_subheader(self):
         """init subheader dict, for execute/apply_reply"""
         return {
             'dependencies_met' : True,
             'engine' : self.ident,
             'started': datetime.now(),
         }
     
     def _publish_pyin(self, code, parent, execution_count):
         """Publish the code request on the pyin stream."""
 
         self.session.send(self.iopub_socket, u'pyin',
                             {u'code':code, u'execution_count': execution_count},
                             parent=parent, ident=self._topic('pyin')
         )
     
     def _publish_status(self, status, parent=None):
         """send status (busy/idle) on IOPub"""
         self.session.send(self.iopub_socket,
                           u'status',
                           {u'execution_state': status},
                           parent=parent,
                           ident=self._topic('status'),
                           )
         
 
     def execute_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         """handle an execute_request"""
         
         self._publish_status(u'busy', parent)
         
         try:
             content = parent[u'content']
             code = content[u'code']
             silent = content[u'silent']
         except:
             self.log.error("Got bad msg: ")
             self.log.error("%s", parent)
             return
         
         sub = self._make_subheader()
 
         shell = self.shell # we'll need this a lot here
 
         # Replace raw_input. Note that is not sufficient to replace
         # raw_input in the user namespace.
         if content.get('allow_stdin', False):
             raw_input = lambda prompt='': self._raw_input(prompt, ident, parent)
         else:
             raw_input = lambda prompt='' : self._no_raw_input()
 
         if py3compat.PY3:
             __builtin__.input = raw_input
         else:
             __builtin__.raw_input = raw_input
 
         # Set the parent message of the display hook and out streams.
         shell.displayhook.set_parent(parent)
         shell.display_pub.set_parent(parent)
-        sys.stdout.set_parent(parent)
-        sys.stderr.set_parent(parent)
+        try:
+            sys.stdout.set_parent(parent)
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
+        try:
+            sys.stderr.set_parent(parent)
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
 
         # Re-broadcast our input for the benefit of listening clients, and
         # start computing output
         if not silent:
             self._publish_pyin(code, parent, shell.execution_count)
 
         reply_content = {}
         try:
             # FIXME: the shell calls the exception handler itself.
             shell.run_cell(code, store_history=not silent, silent=silent)
         except:
             status = u'error'
             # FIXME: this code right now isn't being used yet by default,
             # because the run_cell() call above directly fires off exception
             # reporting.  This code, therefore, is only active in the scenario
             # where runlines itself has an unhandled exception.  We need to
             # uniformize this, for all exception construction to come from a
             # single location in the codbase.
             etype, evalue, tb = sys.exc_info()
             tb_list = traceback.format_exception(etype, evalue, tb)
             reply_content.update(shell._showtraceback(etype, evalue, tb_list))
         else:
             status = u'ok'
 
         reply_content[u'status'] = status
 
         # Return the execution counter so clients can display prompts
         reply_content['execution_count'] = shell.execution_count - 1
 
         # FIXME - fish exception info out of shell, possibly left there by
         # runlines.  We'll need to clean up this logic later.
         if shell._reply_content is not None:
             reply_content.update(shell._reply_content)
             e_info = dict(engine_uuid=self.ident, engine_id=self.int_id, method='execute')
             reply_content['engine_info'] = e_info
             # reset after use
             shell._reply_content = None
 
         # At this point, we can tell whether the main code execution succeeded
         # or not.  If it did, we proceed to evaluate user_variables/expressions
         if reply_content['status'] == 'ok':
             reply_content[u'user_variables'] = \
                          shell.user_variables(content.get(u'user_variables', []))
             reply_content[u'user_expressions'] = \
                          shell.user_expressions(content.get(u'user_expressions', {}))
         else:
             # If there was an error, don't even try to compute variables or
             # expressions
             reply_content[u'user_variables'] = {}
             reply_content[u'user_expressions'] = {}
 
         # Payloads should be retrieved regardless of outcome, so we can both
         # recover partial output (that could have been generated early in a
         # block, before an error) and clear the payload system always.
         reply_content[u'payload'] = shell.payload_manager.read_payload()
         # Be agressive about clearing the payload because we don't want
         # it to sit in memory until the next execute_request comes in.
         shell.payload_manager.clear_payload()
 
         # Flush output before sending the reply.
         sys.stdout.flush()
         sys.stderr.flush()
         # FIXME: on rare occasions, the flush doesn't seem to make it to the
         # clients... This seems to mitigate the problem, but we definitely need
         # to better understand what's going on.
         if self._execute_sleep:
             time.sleep(self._execute_sleep)
 
         # Send the reply.
         reply_content = json_clean(reply_content)
         
         sub['status'] = reply_content['status']
         if reply_content['status'] == 'error' and \
                         reply_content['ename'] == 'UnmetDependency':
                 sub['dependencies_met'] = False
 
         reply_msg = self.session.send(stream, u'execute_reply',
                                       reply_content, parent, subheader=sub,
                                       ident=ident)
         
         self.log.debug("%s", reply_msg)
 
         if not silent and reply_msg['content']['status'] == u'error':
             self._abort_queues()
 
         self._publish_status(u'idle', parent)
 
     def complete_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         txt, matches = self._complete(parent)
         matches = {'matches' : matches,
                    'matched_text' : txt,
                    'status' : 'ok'}
         matches = json_clean(matches)
         completion_msg = self.session.send(stream, 'complete_reply',
                                            matches, parent, ident)
         self.log.debug("%s", completion_msg)
 
     def object_info_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         content = parent['content']
         object_info = self.shell.object_inspect(content['oname'],
                         detail_level = content.get('detail_level', 0)
         )
         # Before we send this object over, we scrub it for JSON usage
         oinfo = json_clean(object_info)
         msg = self.session.send(stream, 'object_info_reply',
                                 oinfo, parent, ident)
         self.log.debug("%s", msg)
 
     def history_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         # We need to pull these out, as passing **kwargs doesn't work with
         # unicode keys before Python 2.6.5.
         hist_access_type = parent['content']['hist_access_type']
         raw = parent['content']['raw']
         output = parent['content']['output']
         if hist_access_type == 'tail':
             n = parent['content']['n']
             hist = self.shell.history_manager.get_tail(n, raw=raw, output=output,
                                                             include_latest=True)
 
         elif hist_access_type == 'range':
             session = parent['content']['session']
             start = parent['content']['start']
             stop = parent['content']['stop']
             hist = self.shell.history_manager.get_range(session, start, stop,
                                                         raw=raw, output=output)
 
         elif hist_access_type == 'search':
             pattern = parent['content']['pattern']
             hist = self.shell.history_manager.search(pattern, raw=raw,
                                                      output=output) 
 
         else:
             hist = []
         hist = list(hist)
         content = {'history' : hist}
         content = json_clean(content)
         msg = self.session.send(stream, 'history_reply',
                                 content, parent, ident)
         self.log.debug("Sending history reply with %i entries", len(hist))
 
     def connect_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         if self._recorded_ports is not None:
             content = self._recorded_ports.copy()
         else:
             content = {}
         msg = self.session.send(stream, 'connect_reply',
                                 content, parent, ident)
         self.log.debug("%s", msg)
 
     def shutdown_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         self.shell.exit_now = True
         content = dict(status='ok')
         content.update(parent['content'])
         self.session.send(stream, u'shutdown_reply', content, parent, ident=ident)
         # same content, but different msg_id for broadcasting on IOPub
         self._shutdown_message = self.session.msg(u'shutdown_reply',
                                                   content, parent
         )
 
         self._at_shutdown()
         # call sys.exit after a short delay
         loop = ioloop.IOLoop.instance()
         loop.add_timeout(time.time()+0.1, loop.stop)
 
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Engine methods
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     def apply_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         try:
             content = parent[u'content']
             bufs = parent[u'buffers']
             msg_id = parent['header']['msg_id']
         except:
             self.log.error("Got bad msg: %s", parent, exc_info=True)
             return
 
         self._publish_status(u'busy', parent)
-        
+
         # Set the parent message of the display hook and out streams.
         shell = self.shell
         shell.displayhook.set_parent(parent)
         shell.display_pub.set_parent(parent)
-        sys.stdout.set_parent(parent)
-        sys.stderr.set_parent(parent)
+        try:
+            sys.stdout.set_parent(parent)
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
+        try:
+            sys.stderr.set_parent(parent)
+        except AttributeError:
+            pass
 
         # pyin_msg = self.session.msg(u'pyin',{u'code':code}, parent=parent)
         # self.iopub_socket.send(pyin_msg)
         # self.session.send(self.iopub_socket, u'pyin', {u'code':code},parent=parent)
         sub = self._make_subheader()
         try:
             working = shell.user_ns
 
             prefix = "_"+str(msg_id).replace("-","")+"_"
 
             f,args,kwargs = unpack_apply_message(bufs, working, copy=False)
 
             fname = getattr(f, '__name__', 'f')
 
             fname = prefix+"f"
             argname = prefix+"args"
             kwargname = prefix+"kwargs"
             resultname = prefix+"result"
 
             ns = { fname : f, argname : args, kwargname : kwargs , resultname : None }
             # print ns
             working.update(ns)
             code = "%s = %s(*%s,**%s)" % (resultname, fname, argname, kwargname)
             try:
                 exec code in shell.user_global_ns, shell.user_ns
                 result = working.get(resultname)
             finally:
                 for key in ns.iterkeys():
                     working.pop(key)
 
             packed_result,buf = serialize_object(result)
             result_buf = [packed_result]+buf
         except:
             # invoke IPython traceback formatting
             shell.showtraceback()
             # FIXME - fish exception info out of shell, possibly left there by
             # run_code.  We'll need to clean up this logic later.
             reply_content = {}
             if shell._reply_content is not None:
                 reply_content.update(shell._reply_content)
                 e_info = dict(engine_uuid=self.ident, engine_id=self.int_id, method='apply')
                 reply_content['engine_info'] = e_info
                 # reset after use
                 shell._reply_content = None
             
             self.session.send(self.iopub_socket, u'pyerr', reply_content, parent=parent,
                                 ident=self._topic('pyerr'))
             result_buf = []
 
             if reply_content['ename'] == 'UnmetDependency':
                 sub['dependencies_met'] = False
         else:
             reply_content = {'status' : 'ok'}
 
         # put 'ok'/'error' status in header, for scheduler introspection:
         sub['status'] = reply_content['status']
 
         # flush i/o
         sys.stdout.flush()
         sys.stderr.flush()
         
         reply_msg = self.session.send(stream, u'apply_reply', reply_content,
                     parent=parent, ident=ident,buffers=result_buf, subheader=sub)
 
         self._publish_status(u'idle', parent)
 
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Control messages
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     def abort_request(self, stream, ident, parent):
         """abort a specifig msg by id"""
         msg_ids = parent['content'].get('msg_ids', None)
         if isinstance(msg_ids, basestring):
             msg_ids = [msg_ids]
         if not msg_ids:
             self.abort_queues()
         for mid in msg_ids:
             self.aborted.add(str(mid))
 
         content = dict(status='ok')
         reply_msg = self.session.send(stream, 'abort_reply', content=content,
                 parent=parent, ident=ident)
         self.log.debug("%s", reply_msg)
 
     def clear_request(self, stream, idents, parent):
         """Clear our namespace."""
         self.shell.reset(False)
         msg = self.session.send(stream, 'clear_reply', ident=idents, parent=parent,
                 content = dict(status='ok'))
 
 
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Protected interface
     #---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
     def _wrap_exception(self, method=None):
         # import here, because _wrap_exception is only used in parallel,
         # and parallel has higher min pyzmq version
         from IPython.parallel.error import wrap_exception
         e_info = dict(engine_uuid=self.ident, engine_id=self.int_id, method=method)
         content = wrap_exception(e_info)
         return content
 
     def _topic(self, topic):
         """prefixed topic for IOPub messages"""
         if self.int_id >= 0:
             base = "engine.%i" % self.int_id
         else:
             base = "kernel.%s" % self.ident
         
         return py3compat.cast_bytes("%s.%s" % (base, topic))
     
     def _abort_queues(self):
         for stream in self.shell_streams:
             if stream:
                 self._abort_queue(stream)
 
     def _abort_queue(self, stream):
         poller = zmq.Poller()
         poller.register(stream.socket, zmq.POLLIN)
         while True:
             idents,msg = self.session.recv(stream, zmq.NOBLOCK, content=True)
             if msg is None:
                 return
 
             self.log.info("Aborting:")
             self.log.info("%s", msg)
             msg_type = msg['header']['msg_type']
             reply_type = msg_type.split('_')[0] + '_reply'
 
             status = {'status' : 'aborted'}
             sub = {'engine' : self.ident}
             sub.update(status)
             reply_msg = self.session.send(stream, reply_type, subheader=sub,
                         content=status, parent=msg, ident=idents)
             self.log.debug("%s", reply_msg)
             # We need to wait a bit for requests to come in. This can probably
             # be set shorter for true asynchronous clients.
             poller.poll(50)
 
 
     def _no_raw_input(self):
         """Raise StdinNotImplentedError if active frontend doesn't support
         stdin."""
         raise StdinNotImplementedError("raw_input was called, but this "
                                        "frontend does not support stdin.") 
         
     def _raw_input(self, prompt, ident, parent):
         # Flush output before making the request.
         sys.stderr.flush()
         sys.stdout.flush()
 
         # Send the input request.
         content = json_clean(dict(prompt=prompt))
         self.session.send(self.stdin_socket, u'input_request', content, parent,
                           ident=ident)
 
         # Await a response.
         while True:
             try:
                 ident, reply = self.session.recv(self.stdin_socket, 0)
             except Exception:
                 self.log.warn("Invalid Message:", exc_info=True)
             else:
                 break
         try:
             value = reply['content']['value']
         except:
             self.log.error("Got bad raw_input reply: ")
             self.log.error("%s", parent)
             value = ''
         if value == '\x04':
             # EOF
             raise EOFError
         return value
 
     def _complete(self, msg):
         c = msg['content']
         try:
             cpos = int(c['cursor_pos'])
         except:
             # If we don't get something that we can convert to an integer, at
             # least attempt the completion guessing the cursor is at the end of
             # the text, if there's any, and otherwise of the line
             cpos = len(c['text'])
             if cpos==0:
                 cpos = len(c['line'])
         return self.shell.complete(c['text'], c['line'], cpos)
 
     def _object_info(self, context):
         symbol, leftover = self._symbol_from_context(context)
         if symbol is not None and not leftover:
             doc = getattr(symbol, '__doc__', '')
         else:
             doc = ''
         object_info = dict(docstring = doc)
         return object_info
 
     def _symbol_from_context(self, context):
         if not context:
             return None, context
 
         base_symbol_string = context[0]
         symbol = self.shell.user_ns.get(base_symbol_string, None)
         if symbol is None:
             symbol = __builtin__.__dict__.get(base_symbol_string, None)
         if symbol is None:
             return None, context
 
         context = context[1:]
         for i, name in enumerate(context):
             new_symbol = getattr(symbol, name, None)
             if new_symbol is None:
                 return symbol, context[i:]
             else:
                 symbol = new_symbol
 
         return symbol, []
 
     def _at_shutdown(self):
         """Actions taken at shutdown by the kernel, called by python's atexit.
         """
         # io.rprint("Kernel at_shutdown") # dbg
         if self._shutdown_message is not None:
             self.session.send(self.iopub_socket, self._shutdown_message, ident=self._topic('shutdown'))
             self.log.debug("%s", self._shutdown_message)
         [ s.flush(zmq.POLLOUT) for s in self.shell_streams ]
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Aliases and Flags for the IPKernelApp
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 flags = dict(kernel_flags)
 flags.update(shell_flags)
 
 addflag = lambda *args: flags.update(boolean_flag(*args))
 
 flags['pylab'] = (
     {'IPKernelApp' : {'pylab' : 'auto'}},
     """Pre-load matplotlib and numpy for interactive use with
     the default matplotlib backend."""
 )
 
 aliases = dict(kernel_aliases)
 aliases.update(shell_aliases)
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # The IPKernelApp class
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 class IPKernelApp(KernelApp, InteractiveShellApp):
     name = 'ipkernel'
 
     aliases = Dict(aliases)
     flags = Dict(flags)
     classes = [Kernel, ZMQInteractiveShell, ProfileDir, Session]
 
     @catch_config_error
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
         super(IPKernelApp, self).initialize(argv)
         self.init_path()
         self.init_shell()
         self.init_gui_pylab()
         self.init_extensions()
         self.init_code()
 
     def init_kernel(self):
         
         shell_stream = ZMQStream(self.shell_socket)
 
         kernel = Kernel(config=self.config, session=self.session,
                                 shell_streams=[shell_stream],
                                 iopub_socket=self.iopub_socket,
                                 stdin_socket=self.stdin_socket,
                                 log=self.log,
                                 profile_dir=self.profile_dir,
         )
         self.kernel = kernel
         kernel.record_ports(self.ports)
         shell = kernel.shell
 
     def init_gui_pylab(self):
         """Enable GUI event loop integration, taking pylab into account."""
 
         # Provide a wrapper for :meth:`InteractiveShellApp.init_gui_pylab`
         # to ensure that any exception is printed straight to stderr.
         # Normally _showtraceback associates the reply with an execution,
         # which means frontends will never draw it, as this exception
         # is not associated with any execute request.
 
         shell = self.shell
         _showtraceback = shell._showtraceback
         try:
             # replace pyerr-sending traceback with stderr
             def print_tb(etype, evalue, stb):
                 print ("GUI event loop or pylab initialization failed",
                        file=io.stderr)
                 print (shell.InteractiveTB.stb2text(stb), file=io.stderr)
             shell._showtraceback = print_tb
             InteractiveShellApp.init_gui_pylab(self)
         finally:
             shell._showtraceback = _showtraceback
 
     def init_shell(self):
         self.shell = self.kernel.shell
         self.shell.configurables.append(self)
 
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Kernel main and launch functions
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def launch_kernel(*args, **kwargs):
     """Launches a localhost IPython kernel, binding to the specified ports.
 
     This function simply calls entry_point.base_launch_kernel with the right
     first command to start an ipkernel.  See base_launch_kernel for arguments.
 
     Returns
     -------
     A tuple of form:
         (kernel_process, shell_port, iopub_port, stdin_port, hb_port)
     where kernel_process is a Popen object and the ports are integers.
     """
     return base_launch_kernel('from IPython.zmq.ipkernel import main; main()',
                               *args, **kwargs)
 
 
 def embed_kernel(module=None, local_ns=None, **kwargs):
     """Embed and start an IPython kernel in a given scope.
     
     Parameters
     ----------
     module : ModuleType, optional
         The module to load into IPython globals (default: caller)
     local_ns : dict, optional
         The namespace to load into IPython user namespace (default: caller)
     
     kwargs : various, optional
         Further keyword args are relayed to the KernelApp constructor,
         allowing configuration of the Kernel.  Will only have an effect
         on the first embed_kernel call for a given process.
     
     """
     # get the app if it exists, or set it up if it doesn't
     if IPKernelApp.initialized():
         app = IPKernelApp.instance()
     else:
         app = IPKernelApp.instance(**kwargs)
         app.initialize([])
         # Undo unnecessary sys module mangling from init_sys_modules.
         # This would not be necessary if we could prevent it
         # in the first place by using a different InteractiveShell
         # subclass, as in the regular embed case.
         main = app.kernel.shell._orig_sys_modules_main_mod
         if main is not None:
             sys.modules[app.kernel.shell._orig_sys_modules_main_name] = main
 
     # load the calling scope if not given
     (caller_module, caller_locals) = extract_module_locals(1)
     if module is None:
         module = caller_module
     if local_ns is None:
         local_ns = caller_locals
     
     app.kernel.user_module = module
     app.kernel.user_ns = local_ns
     app.shell.set_completer_frame()
     app.start()
 
 def main():
     """Run an IPKernel as an application"""
     app = IPKernelApp.instance()
     app.initialize()
     app.start()
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()