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Spawn psql directly on Windows instead of via cmd.exe - #10453

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@dpage

@dpage dpage commented Sep 24, 2026 •

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On Windows, the psql tool starts cmd.exe in the pseudo-terminal and types the psql command line into it. When psql exits (e.g. after \q), the user is left at a cmd.exe prompt running as the pgAdmin process owner; in server mode, that's a shell on the server.

This passes psql and its connection string straight to PtyProcess.spawn() as an argument list, so the session ends with psql as it does on Linux and macOS. pywinpty quotes the arguments with subprocess.list2cmdline(), so the connection string is also no longer interpolated into a cmd.exe command line.

Because the session now ends as soon as psql exits, any output pywinpty's reader thread has not yet forwarded (such as a connection error) is drained from its socket after exit rather than dropped; drain_stdout() has a unit test.

Once psql exits, its session is also removed from every map (sessions, pdata, cdata, open_psql_connections, session_input and sid_soid_mapping). Previously a session ended with \q on Windows stayed registered, because the \q handler removed it from sessions and the disconnect handler then skipped the rest of the cleanup, so an ad hoc server was never removed either. This is covered by test_windows_session_cleanup.py.

The rest of the psql tests only cover the non-Windows code path, so this needs a manual check on Windows: open the psql tool, run a query, then \q, and confirm no cmd.exe prompt appears. It is also worth trying a bad password or an unreachable server to confirm the error is shown.

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Bug Fixes
    • Improved starting psql sessions on Windows by launching the connection directly, without first opening a command shell.
    • Improved output handling when a psql session ends: remaining output is forwarded, and waiting stops when the output stream closes, pauses, or reaches the maximum wait time.
    • Improved cleanup after psql exits so session state and associated resources are cleared without affecting a newer session.

The psql tool on Windows started cmd.exe in the pseudo-terminal and typed
the psql command line into it, keeping the session alive for as long as
cmd.exe was running. When psql exited, for example after \q, the user was
left at a cmd.exe prompt running as the pgAdmin process owner, which in
server mode is a shell on the server.

Pass psql and its connection string to PtyProcess.spawn() as an argument
list instead, so the session ends when psql does (matching the behaviour
on other platforms), and the connection string is quoted by
subprocess.list2cmdline() rather than being interpolated into a cmd.exe
command line.
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Walkthrough

The Windows psql path now starts psql directly. After the process exits, it drains remaining output and updates session cleanup. The new drain function stops at EOF, an I/O error, an idle timeout, or the maximum wait.

Changes

Windows psql process handling

Layer / File(s) Summary
Bounded output draining
web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py, web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_drain_stdout.py
drain_stdout forwards available output until EOF, an I/O error, an idle timeout, or the maximum wait. Tests cover output forwarding and both timeout conditions.
Windows launch and exit handling
web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py, web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py
The Windows path starts psql directly. After the process loop, it drains output, removes the session only if it still refers to that process, and calls cleanup_globals() only if the socket still maps to that process in pdata. Cleanup clears buffered input and removes the socket mapping when present. Tests cover removed, registered, and replaced sessions.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to 5559c

The change is mergeable with a localized test-isolation fix: restore any socket mapping that existed before the test to avoid order-dependent failures.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 10.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 10 functions across 3 files. Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check ✅ Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly and concisely describes the primary change: spawning psql directly on Windows instead of through cmd.exe.
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Actionable comments posted: 1


  • 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
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Inline comments:
In `@web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py`:
- Line 249: Update the psql output-reading loop around PtyProcess.spawn so
process exit does not stop reading while PTY output remains buffered; continue
consuming read_stdout() until it reaches EOF, then end the reader.

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Comment thread web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py
Now that psql is spawned directly rather than inside cmd.exe, the session
ends as soon as psql exits. pywinpty copies the pseudo-terminal's output to
a socket from a reader thread, so output written just before exit, such as
a connection error, could still be queued when isalive() returned False,
and was lost. Drain the socket until EOF, or until it goes quiet, after the
process has exited.

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Actionable comments posted: 1


  • 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
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Inline comments:
Review comments at @web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py:
- Around line 246-272: Update drain_stdout to cap each select.select readiness
wait by the time remaining until its max_wait deadline, and exit when no time
remains. Preserve the existing idle_timeout behavior when it is shorter than the
remaining drain window.

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Comment thread web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py
select() waited for the full idle timeout even when less time than that
remained before the drain's deadline, so it could overrun by up to a
second. Wait for whichever is shorter.

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⚠️ Outside diff range comments (1)

🟡 Minor · Clean up the Windows psql state after natural process exit. · __init__.py:289-294

web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py:289-294
🩺 Stability & Availability | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Clean up the Windows psql state after natural process exit.

windows_platform() registers the process in all session maps, then calls only drain_stdout() after the process exits. The disconnect cleanup is conditional on app.config['sessions'][request.sid] still existing. The \q and invalid-session paths can delete that entry first, so pdata, cdata, and open_psql_connections remain stale. get_open_psql_connections() can then report a closed connection, and check_and_delete_adhoc_server() is not called.

Clean the remaining registries after draining, even when the session entry was already removed:

Suggested fix
     drain_stdout(process, sid, max_read_bytes)
+    if request.sid in pdata:
+        app.config['sessions'].pop(request.sid, None)
+        cleanup_globals()
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Review comment at @web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py around lines 289 - 294:
Update windows_platform after drain_stdout to clean up the remaining process and
connection registries on natural exit, even if the session entry was already
removed; ensure cleanup_globals and check_and_delete_adhoc_server run as needed
so pdata, cdata, and open_psql_connections do not retain stale state.

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Outside diff comments:
Review comments at @web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py:
- Around line 289-294: Update windows_platform after drain_stdout to clean up
the remaining process and connection registries on natural exit, even if the
session entry was already removed; ensure cleanup_globals and
check_and_delete_adhoc_server run as needed so pdata, cdata, and
open_psql_connections do not retain stale state.

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On Windows the \q handler removes the session from the sessions map, and
the disconnect handler only cleans up pdata, cdata and
open_psql_connections when the session is still there, so a session ended
with \q stayed registered and its ad hoc server was never removed. Now
that psql is spawned directly, remove the session from every map as soon
as psql exits.
@dpage

dpage commented Sep 28, 2026

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@coderabbitai Your outside-diff finding about stale Windows session state is fixed in 5c6b05d: once psql exits, windows_platform() removes the session from the sessions map and runs cleanup_globals() if it is still registered, so a session ended with \q no longer leaves pdata, cdata and open_psql_connections behind. There's a test covering both the \q and natural-exit cases.

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  • 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
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Inline comments:
Review comments at @web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py:
- Around line 299-300: Update cleanup_globals and the exit path guarded by
request.sid in pdata to remove the exiting socket ID from session_input and
app.config['sid_soid_mapping'] as well as the process maps, before pdata is
removed; extend the exit test to verify both socket entries are cleared.
- Around line 298-300: In the exit cleanup flow, only remove the session entry
and call cleanup_globals when the registered process for request.sid is the
exiting process; compare it with process so an older process cannot clear state
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Comment thread web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py Outdated
Comment thread web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py Outdated
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🧩 Analysis chain

🏁 Script executed:

#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
ast-grep outline web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py --match 'windows_platform|cleanup_globals' --view expanded
ast-grep outline web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py --items all
rg -n -C 4 'def windows_platform|cleanup_globals\(|drain_stdout\(|sessions\.|pdata\.|cdata\.|open_psql_connections' web/pgadmin/tools/psql/__init__.py web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py
cat -n web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py

Length of output: 13045


@dpage, thanks for the fix. I verified that windows_platform() removes the session after psql exits and calls cleanup_globals() when pdata still contains it. The new test covers both the \q and natural-exit cases. I did not run the test.


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Only clear the Windows session state on exit if it still belongs to the
process that exited, so that an older process cannot remove a newer one
registered against the same socket. cleanup_globals() now also removes
the socket from session_input and sid_soid_mapping, which were left
behind on every exit, and which a server disconnect could no longer
clean up once the exit path had removed the socket from pdata.

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Review comments at
@web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py:
- Line 67: Update the test cleanup around the sid_soid_mapping assignment to
preserve shared test state: save whether key '7' existed and its prior value,
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Comment thread web/pgadmin/tools/psql/tests/test_windows_session_cleanup.py Outdated
The test replaced and then deleted the mapping for its server ID outright,
which would discard any entry another test had registered for it.

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