Program hangs when using get_metadata function on Windows.

[llitkr]

Hello.

My program is so simple. I'm just trying basic function of pyexiftool but having problem.

import os
from exiftool import ExifToolHelper

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        file_path = os.path.join(directory, filename)
        if os.path.isfile(file_path):
            file_list.append(file_path)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory("directory path")
for i in range(len(files)):
    print(files[i])
    **for d in ExifToolHelper().get_metadata(files[i]):**
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")

My program hangs at bold part.

If I press Ctrl + C in the command window, the metadata of the file is displayed normally with an error. But you can't type Ctrl+C one by one. Why stop there?

[sylikc]

Hi, I tested this code on my Windows 10 computer running Python 3.9.6 with exiftool 12.37 and I have no issues

Can you describe your environment? What Python are you using? On what platform? etc

[llitkr]

Hi, I tested this code on my Windows 10 computer running Python 3.9.6 with exiftool 12.37 and I have no issues

Can you describe your environment? What Python are you using? On what platform? etc

Hello sylikc. Thanks for reply.

I tested it with exiftool 12.55 and Python 3.10.9.

The Operation System is Windows 11 and Develope environment is VS 2022 community version.

Should I try with 3.9.6 version of Python?

Program hans like this and if I press Ctrl + C, it become like below.

What's problem do you think?

[sylikc]

Oh, you might be having having probably multiple problems. The directory names are probably one of them

Can you try the suggestion here: #68 (comment) and perhaps using a different -charset parameter?

And you're also encountering likely the Python bug I reported to CPython #63 (comment) ... though that is less likely.

It is showing that line https://github.com/sylikc/pyexiftool/blob/master/exiftool/exiftool.py#L855 is where it's hanging. There's current a PR out #64 ... can you report if that fixes your current issue?

[llitkr]

Oh, you might be having having probably multiple problems. The directory names are probably one of them

Can you try the suggestion here: #68 (comment) and perhaps using a different -charset parameter?

And you're also encountering likely the Python bug I reported to CPython #63 (comment) ... though that is less likely.

It is showing that line https://github.com/sylikc/pyexiftool/blob/master/exiftool/exiftool.py#L855 is where it's hanging. There's current a PR out #64 ... can you report if that fixes your current issue?

Thanks for your reply.

I think it's not a problem about directory name.

I tried with relative directory and there was no Korean language but also same error occured.

Then, I tried .get_metadata() with multi parameters but got an error.

[sylikc]

Hmm, i'm not even sure how to debug this... something really funky is going on. As per your error, it somehow deadlocks in threading.py which is way out of my control... I might need to test on your exact version(s) to see if I can reproduce this problem.

Can you break down the code further to see if it hangs in the same spot?

import os
from exiftool import ExifToolHelper

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        file_path = os.path.join(directory, filename)
        if os.path.isfile(file_path):
            file_list.append(file_path)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory("directory path")
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    e = ExifToolHelper()
    m = e.get_metadata(f)
    for d in m:
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")
    # optional, also test if it still hangs if you uncomment this line
    #del e

print("exiting")

[sylikc]

btw, if you don't know about pathlib's Path, there's a cleaner way to do the get_files_in_directory method

[llitkr]

Hmm, i'm not even sure how to debug this... something really funky is going on. As per your error, it somehow deadlocks in threading.py which is way out of my control... I might need to test on your exact version(s) to see if I can reproduce this problem.

Can you break down the code further to see if it hangs in the same spot?

import os
from exiftool import ExifToolHelper

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        file_path = os.path.join(directory, filename)
        if os.path.isfile(file_path):
            file_list.append(file_path)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory("directory path")
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    e = ExifToolHelper()
    m = e.get_metadata(f)
    for d in m:
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")
    # optional, also test if it still hangs if you uncomment this line
    #del e

print("exiting")

Thanks again for reply. I tested it and "del e" seems something matter.

When I try with your code, It successes to get metadata and print it once. Then it seems hang on second try.(After print second file's name)

However, if I try with "del e" code, it also sucess to get metadata and print for first one but hang on second try. Difference is it cannot reach to print second file's name. It means maybe "del e" makes program stop. By the way, I don't know why It success once because it looks same with my code before.

[sylikc]

It makes no sense lol.

Let's try it one more time... I'm guessing this "should" work. Btw, where did you download exiftool? from official exiftool.org?

import os
from exiftool import ExifToolHelper

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in os.listdir(directory):
        file_path = os.path.join(directory, filename)
        if os.path.isfile(file_path):
            file_list.append(file_path)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory("directory path")
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    e = ExifToolHelper()
    m = e.get_metadata(f)
    for d in m:
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")
    e.terminate()

print("exiting")

[sylikc]

Btw, your usage is not the most efficient way to use PyExifTool, since each invocation of ExifToolHelper() causes a new object to be created... if I optimized your code to use PyExifTool most effectively, (and use pathlib) it looks like this:

from exiftool import ExifToolHelper
from pathlib import Path

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in directory.iterdir():
        if filename.is_file():
            file_list.append(directory / filename)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory(Path("directory path"))
e = ExifToolHelper()
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    for d in e.get_metadata(f):
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")

e.terminate()
print("exiting")

This code will run much faster btw, just because ExifToolHelper() is left running. It'll likely get rid of your hanging problem (although why it hangs with the normal code doesn't make sense either)

[llitkr]

Wow. It worked with your new code but it hanged with moff file. maybe exiftool doesn't support the file type like this.(This is Sony Action Cam's GPS moving data file) Maybe I can handle it with try-except.

[llitkr]

Btw, your usage is not the most efficient way to use PyExifTool, since each invocation of ExifToolHelper() causes a new object to be created... if I optimized your code to use PyExifTool most effectively, (and use pathlib) it looks like this:

from exiftool import ExifToolHelper
from pathlib import Path

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in directory.iterdir():
        if filename.is_file():
            file_list.append(directory / filename)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory(Path("directory path"))
e = ExifToolHelper()
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    for d in e.get_metadata(f):
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")

e.terminate()
print("exiting")

This code will run much faster btw, just because ExifToolHelper() is left running. It'll likely get rid of your hanging problem (although why it hangs with the normal code doesn't make sense either)

By the way, I don't know why it makes exception at first try if I use Path library and there is no exception if I use os library.

[sylikc]

Not really sure... but... anyways you shouldn't terminate() every time.

Leave the ExifToolHelper object running for the life of the program... that's the fastest way.

from exiftool import ExifToolHelper, ExifToolExecuteError
from pathlib import Path

def get_files_in_directory(directory):
    file_list = []
    for filename in directory.iterdir():
        if filename.is_file():
            file_list.append(filename)
    return file_list

files = get_files_in_directory(Path("directory path"))
e = ExifToolHelper()
for i in range(len(files)):
    f = files[i]
    print(f)
    try:
        e.get_metadata(f)
    except ExifToolExecuteError:
        continue
    for d in m:
        for k, v in d.items():
            print(f"Dict: {k} =- {v}")

e.terminate()
print("exiting")

You could also turn off error checking https://sylikc.github.io/pyexiftool/reference/2-helper.html#exiftool.ExifToolHelper.check_execute but I advise against it...

Anyways, the error you're getting is coming back from exiftool, but in my experience, it means that that particular file has no metadata.

Try the code above...

[llitkr]

Thanks a lot for help me.

I modified code little bit and it worked perfect like what I expected.

[sylikc]

You're welcome. Feel free to reopen this issue if you encounter further problems.

While the hanging in the initial example "shouldn't happen", this new code is a workaround. I don't really know why that initial code hangs for you... I'll test Python 3.10's windows bug another time... but I think it's related to the same CPython bug I reported 2 years ago