Error: Failed to find a python version from target process

[ahmed-shariff]

For pretty much any command i run (top, record and dump) i get the following:

Error: Failed to find a python version from target process

I've installed py-spy through poetry (pip). I am trying running it through both the poetry run py-spy .. as well as activate the env and run py-spy ...

OS: Windows 10
Python: 3.9.4

[Jongy]

Which py-spy version is it? (displayed when you run plain py-spy, first line).

Also - can you please run with RUST_LOG=debug (for example - sudo RUST_LOG=debug py-spy ...) and post the outputs?

[benfred]

Can you also try profiling with subprocesses (w/ the --subprocesses flag) ? We've seen issues like #81 and #216 on windows with virtual environments before - where the python process is created as a subprocess

[ahmed-shariff]

Thanks for the quick reply guys.

The version I have is 0.3.7.

and oddly, after reinstalling the package, the commands seems to work. I am not sure what changed though. I'll open the issue again if I run into any problems.

[netotz]

I had

Can you also try profiling with subprocesses (w/ the --subprocesses flag) ? We've seen issues like #81 and #216 on windows with virtual environments before - where the python process is created as a subprocess

This worked for me, I used py-spy top -s python myfile.py. Thanks!

[rhughesjr]

FYI I just ran into this error and fortunately found this solution. I'm running Win10 and a venv.

Maybe this would be good to stick in the faq's?

[gobater]

This problem is not yet fixed in py-spy 0.3.14 on windows (venv) when profiling native code.
Combination of "--native and -s" options throws the following message:

Can't get native stack traces with the ---subprocesses option on windows.

The problem is not only related to (venv), since calling your python script/module through an activation point does lead to the same problem when not using "-s" which in Windows is unusuable when trying to analyze native modules

[AdityaSoni19031997]

When I ran with DEBUG flag, I got this at the very end -:

[2023-11-20T04:32:28.245220381Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Getting version from python binary BSS
[2023-11-20T04:32:28.245279172Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Failed to get version from BSS section: failed to find version string
[2023-11-20T04:32:28.245294131Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Trying to get version from path: /usr/bin/qemu-x86_64
Error: Failed to find python version from target process

I am running this within a Docker container and Python 3.8.17 and Apple M1 Chip.

[AcidInvader]

I'v got the issue: Error: Failed to open process - check if it is running.
when i run this command py-spy record -o profile.svg --pid 8039. Please help me how can i solve it?

[cemlyn007]

With py-spy 0.3.14, in my case, it looks it struggles to get the extract the version from the path:

[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444696000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] got symbol Py_GetVersion.version (0x00000001037ae650) from libpython binary
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444702000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Getting version from symbol address
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444717000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Getting version from python binary BSS
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444720000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Failed to get version from BSS section: failed to find version string
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444722000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Getting version from libpython BSS
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444732000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Failed to get version from libpython BSS section: failed to find version string
[2024-06-17T11:12:05.444733000Z INFO  py_spy::python_spy] Trying to get version from path: /opt/homebrew/Cellar/[email protected]/3.10.14/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.10/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python

[mrjazz]

Have the same problem, py-spy version is 0.3.14, MacOS version is Sonnoma 14.5

[aditya-sengupta]

Same problem, py-spy 0.3.14, MacOS Ventura 13.2.1

[amenasria]

For macOS folks, just spent 3 hours debugging this 🫡 Here's how I fixed it:

TL; DR: I uninstalled the Python I installed through brew or the Python installer (because they might be conflict with reading memory from those) and used pyenv to install a local python (see script below). After that it worked !

# Uninstall other Python binaries through brew or rm
brew uninstall [email protected]
# Setup pyenv
brew update
brew install pyenv
echo 'export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo '[[ -d $PYENV_ROOT/bin ]] && export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init - zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc
#  Restart your shell
exec "$SHELL"
# Install Python
pyenv install 3.11.8
# Use it globally
pyenv global 3.11.8

Longer explanation (from this section of py-spy README): macOS SIP is preventing all users from reading memory from any binary located in protected directories (such as /usr/bin maybe containing your Python binary). So you should either:

• disable SIP (kinda risky),
• install a Python that won't be protected by SIP(recommended).

Hope this helped !