[venv / PC/launcher] issue with a space in the installed python path

[hokiedsp]

BPO	46686
Nosy	@pfmoore, @tjguk, @zware, @eryksun, @zooba, @hokiedsp

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2022-02-08.22:48:39.910>
labels = ['type-bug', '3.8', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', 'OS-windows']
title = '[venv / PC/launcher] issue with a space in the installed python path'
updated_at = <Date 2022-02-09.16:01:34.021>
user = 'https://github.com/hokiedsp'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2022-02-09.16:01:34.021>
actor = 'hokiedsp'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Windows']
creation = <Date 2022-02-08.22:48:39.910>
creator = 'hokiedsp'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 46686
keywords = []
message_count = 6.0
messages = ['412874', '412883', '412885', '412889', '412894', '412918']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['paul.moore', 'tim.golden', 'zach.ware', 'eryksun', 'steve.dower', 'hokiedsp']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'critical'
resolution = None
stage = 'needs patch'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue46686'
versions = ['Python 3.8', 'Python 3.9', 'Python 3.10', 'Python 3.11']

[hokiedsp]

After months of proper operation, my per-user Python install started to error out when I attempt python -m venv .venv with

"Error: Command '['C:\\Users\\kesh\\test\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe', '-Im', 'ensurepip', '--upgrade', '--default-pip']' returned non-zero exit status 101."

Following the StackOverflow solution, I reinstalled Python for all users and it was working OK. I recently looked into it deeper and found the root issue in the function PC/launcher.c/run_child(). The path to the "...\Python\Python310\python.exe" contains a space, and the CreateProcessW() call on Line 811 is passing the path without quoting the path, causing the process creation to fail.

I fixed my issue by using the Windows short path convention on my path env. variable, but there must be a more permanent fix possible.

Here is the link to my question and self-answering to the problem:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71039131/troubleshooting-the-windows-venv-error-101

[eryksun]

run_child() expects cmdline to be correctly quoted, and normally it is.

I can't reproduce this problem with Python 3.10.2. I created a user account with a space in the account name, logged on, and installed 3.10.2 for the current user, with the option enabled to add Python to PATH. Next I opened a command prompt in the user profile directory and created a virtual environment via python.exe -m venv .venv. Running ".venv\Scripts\python.exe -X utf8" worked. The command line used by the venv "python.exe" launcher was properly quoted and thus properly parsed in the original list of command-line arguments, sys.orig_argv.

[hokiedsp]

@eryksun - I knew the reproducibility is the issue with this bug. On the same PC I've been having a problem with, I created another dummy account with a space in its username, and it worked flawlessly... So, it's something I've done to my account which triggered this behavior.

Is there anything that I can try and report on my machine? I'd be happy to do so

[eryksun]

I checked the source code in PC/launcher.c process(). It turns out that executable is not getting quoted in the venv launcher case.

CreateProcessW() tries to get around this. If the command isn't quoted, it has a loop that consumes up to a space (or tab) and checks for an existing file (not a directory). If it finds a file, it rewrites the command line to quote the path of the file.

My test happened to work. But it's simple enough to create an example that fails. For example, as an elevated admin, create a file named "C:\Program". Now the venv launcher won't be able to execute a base interpreter that's installed in "C:\Program Files":

C:\Temp>echo >C:\Program

C:\Temp>"C:\Program Files\Python310\python.exe" -m venv env
Error: Command '['C:\\Temp\\env\\Scripts\\python.exe', '-Im', 
'ensurepip', '--upgrade', '--default-pip']' returned non-zero 
exit status 101.