Error High Sierra + Python + Postgresql: Invalid instruction: 4

Question

I can connect to Postgres via the command line without problems, however, if I try to connect via Python using the psycopg2 module, I will get the error below. Interestingly, I just tried connecting to PSeqal.app and it crashes with the same error.

Environment:

• MacOS: 10.13.3
• Xcode 9.2
• Python: 3.6.4
  • Connection Module: psycopg2
• Postgresql: 10.3

Script:

Here is my simple script connection that tries to connect via Python to Postgresql:

def connect(self, params): """ Connect to the PostgreSQL database server """ conn = None try: # connect to the PostgreSQL server logging.info('Connecting to the PostgreSQL database...') conn = psycopg2.connect(**params) # create a cursor self.cursor = conn.cursor() except (Exception, psycopg2.DatabaseError) as error: print(error) finally: if conn is not None: conn.close() logging.warning('Database connection closed.') 

Error:

Script output:

$ python3 testdb.py
Illegal Instruction: 4

Apple error (partial):

 Process: Python [79534] Path: /usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.6.4_2/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.6/Resources/Python.app/Contents/MacOS/Python Identifier: Python Version: 3.6.4 (3.6.4) Code Type: X86-64 (Native) Parent Process: bash [657] Responsible: Python [79534] User ID: 501 Date/Time: 2018-03-02 15:30:27.642 +1300 OS Version: Mac OS X 10.13.3 (17D102) Report Version: 12 Anonymous UUID: xx Time Awake Since Boot: 21000 seconds System Integrity Protection: disabled Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL) Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000 Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY Termination Signal: Illegal instruction: 4 Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4 Terminating Process: exc handler [0] Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread 0 libpq.5.10.dylib 0x00000001118e8d27 initPQExpBuffer + 32 1 libpq.5.10.dylib 0x00000001118dba93 PQconninfoParse + 43 2 _psycopg.cpython-36m-darwin.so 0x0000000111897cf1 psyco_parse_dsn + 113 3 org.python.python 0x000000010fd4681a _PyCFunction_FastCallDict + 463 4 org.python.python 0x000000010fdaad8e call_function + 489 5 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3c43 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 4811 6 org.python.python 0x000000010fdab4f0 _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 1719 7 org.python.python 0x000000010fda293d PyEval_EvalCodeEx + 57 8 org.python.python 0x000000010fd2ec76 function_call + 339 9 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0e9f2 PyObject_Call + 101 10 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3eac _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 5428 11 org.python.python 0x000000010fdab4f0 _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 1719 12 org.python.python 0x000000010fda293d PyEval_EvalCodeEx + 57 13 org.python.python 0x000000010fd2ec76 function_call + 339 14 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0e9f2 PyObject_Call + 101 15 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3eac _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 5428 16 org.python.python 0x000000010fdabe93 _PyFunction_FastCall + 121 17 org.python.python 0x000000010fdaad65 call_function + 448 18 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3c43 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 4811 19 org.python.python 0x000000010fdabe93 _PyFunction_FastCall + 121 20 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0eb71 _PyObject_FastCallDict + 196 21 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0ec94 _PyObject_Call_Prepend + 156 22 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0e9f2 PyObject_Call + 101 23 org.python.python 0x000000010fd598ae slot_tp_init + 57 24 org.python.python 0x000000010fd5683c type_call + 184 25 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0eb3c _PyObject_FastCallDict + 143 26 org.python.python 0x000000010fdaad5e call_function + 441 27 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3c43 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 4811 28 org.python.python 0x000000010fdabe93 _PyFunction_FastCall + 121 29 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0eb71 _PyObject_FastCallDict + 196 30 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0ec94 _PyObject_Call_Prepend + 156 31 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0e9f2 PyObject_Call + 101 32 org.python.python 0x000000010fd598ae slot_tp_init + 57 33 org.python.python 0x000000010fd5683c type_call + 184 34 org.python.python 0x000000010fd0eb3c _PyObject_FastCallDict + 143 35 org.python.python 0x000000010fdaad5e call_function + 441 36 org.python.python 0x000000010fda3c43 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 4811 37 org.python.python 0x000000010fdab4f0 _PyEval_EvalCodeWithName + 1719 38 org.python.python 0x000000010fda28fe PyEval_EvalCode + 42 39 org.python.python 0x000000010fdcb24e run_mod + 54 40 org.python.python 0x000000010fdca26f PyRun_FileExFlags + 160 41 org.python.python 0x000000010fdc994c PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags + 285 42 org.python.python 0x000000010fddd770 Py_Main + 3484 43 org.python.python 0x000000010fd01e1d 0x10fd00000 + 7709 44 libdyld.dylib 0x00007fff6c260115 start + 1 Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit): rax: 0x00007f86c3db9200 rbx: 0x00007ffedfefe3a0 rcx: 0x0000000000000100 rdx: 0x0000000000010000 rdi: 0x0000000000000b93 rsi: 0x00000000ffff0001 rbp: 0x00007ffedfefe390 rsp: 0x00007ffedfefe380 r8: 0x000000006c3db930 r9: 0x000000000000000f r10: 0x00000000ffff0000 r11: 0x00007f86c3d00000 r12: 0x0000000110665738 r13: 0x0000000111c68510 r14: 0x0000000111cb80b0 r15: 0x00007ffedfefe3a0 rip: 0x00000001118e8d27 rfl: 0x0000000000010206 cr2: 0x00000001118ef90e Logical CPU: 2 Error Code: 0x00000000 Trap Number: 6 

What I have tried so far:

• Updated Python to 3.6.4 from 3.5.1
  • Restore all dependent libraries, including psycopg2, to make sure they are compatible with High Sierra (hopefully)
• Reinstall Postgres from scratch
• Updated Xcode + Tools

So, I lost a little, what to try next? Anyone else come across this? Any pointers to where to look? Anything that will help me get this job will be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

So it looks like the psycopg2 library was the culprit, and this fixed it for me:

$ pip3 remove psycopg2
...
Successfully deleted psycopg2-binary-2.7.4

$ pip3 install psycopg2-binary --no-binary: all:
Collecting psycopg2-binary Download psycopg2-binary-2.7.4.tar.gz (426kB) 100% | --- | 430kB 649kB / s Skip bdist_wheel for psycopg2 binary, because binaries are disabled for it. Installing the compiled packages: psycopg2-binary Run setup.py install for psycopg2-binary ... done
Psycopg2-binary-2.7.4 installed successfully

$ python3 test.py
Connecting to a PostgreSQL database ...
Things are good.
Database connection closed.

I believe this is due to the fact that I was trying to create psycopg2 in the 2010 MBP era and it has a hardware compatibility issue - perhaps an Intel Core i7 processor with a frequency of 2.66 GHz.

Thanks to @Laurenz Albe and @joop for quick answers, pointers and ideas, you helped narrow me down to this answer, which I hope will remain stable throughout this work;) Greetings!

Answer 2

According to the stack trace, this error occurs in the PostgreSQL client, in this harmless piece of code:

 /* * initPQExpBuffer * * Initialize a PQExpBufferData struct (with previously undefined contents) * to describe an empty string. */ void initPQExpBuffer(PQExpBuffer str) { str->data = (char *) malloc(INITIAL_EXPBUFFER_SIZE); if (str->data == NULL) { str->data = (char *) oom_buffer; /* see comment above */ str->maxlen = 0; str->len = 0; } else { str->maxlen = INITIAL_EXPBUFFER_SIZE; str->len = 0; str->data[0] = '\0'; } } 

I found this and this question related to similar problems.

An illegal instruction should mean that execution has detected a command code that does not exist, which is either a compiler error, or means that the code was created for a processor with a different set of instructions.

The problem is probably somewhere in the procedure with which PostgreSQL was built. You must file this complaint with the packers who created the binaries that you use.