pyteleport 0.1

A proof-of-concept snapshot, transmission and restoring python runtime

pyteleport

A proof-of-concept serialization, transmission and restoring python runtime.

Install

pip install pyteleport

Example

from socket import gethostname
from os import getpid
def log(*args):
    print(f"[{gethostname()}/{getpid()}]", *args)

from pyteleport import bash_teleport

log("hi")
bash_teleport("ssh", "cartesius", "conda activate py39;")
log("bye")

output:

[stealth/4258] hi
[int1.bullx/17980] bye

Note that the two outputs were produced by different processes on different machines! This is what bash_teleport does: it transmits the runtime from one python process to another.

Also works from within a stack:

def a():
    def b():
        def c():
            result = "hello"
            bash_teleport(...)
            return result + " world"
        return len(c()) + float("3.5")
    return 5 * (3 + b())
assert a() == 87.5

How it works

• You invoke teleport in your python script.
• pyteleport collects the runtime state: globals, locals, stack.
• pyteleport dumps the runtime into a specially designed "morph" bytecode which resumes from where teleport was invoked.
• The bytecode is transmitted to the target environment and passed to a python interpreter there.
• The remote python runs the bytecode which restores the runtime state. The python program casually resumes from where it was interrupted.
• The local python runtime is terminated and simply pipes stdio from the target environment.

Known limitations

This is a proof of concept. The package assumes cPython v3.8 or 3.9.

What is working / not working:

• MWE: snapshot, serialize, transmit, restore
• serialize generators
• threads (currently ignored)
• for, try, with (never tested)
• async (never tested but likely needs minimal changes)
• yield from (never tested)
• non-python stack (won't fix)
• forking to remote (non-destructive teleport, needs investigating)
• back-teleport (needs API development)
• nested teleport (needs minimal changes)
• cross-fork communications (need API development)
• REPL integration (needs investigating)
• more python versions (maybe)
• cross-version (needs investigating)

The list is not final.

History

• 11 July 2021 20:46 CEST a python runtime was first teleported to another machine

License

LICENSE.md