When testing Python from Python-3.9.0a3.tar.xz two test cases file in the limited build environment for openSUSE. We have very limited number of users there: stitny:/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3 # cat /etc/passwd root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash abuild:x:399:399:Autobuild:/home/abuild:/bin/bash stitny:/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3 # So, tests which expect existence of the user 'nobody' fail: [ 747s] ====================================================================== [ 747s] ERROR: test_user (test.test_subprocess.POSIXProcessTestCase) (user='nobody', close_fds=False) [ 747s] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ 747s] Traceback (most recent call last): [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py", line 1805, in test_user [ 747s] output = subprocess.check_output( [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 419, in check_output [ 747s] return run(*popenargs, stdout=PIPE, timeout=timeout, check=True, [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 510, in run [ 747s] with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process: [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 929, in __init__ [ 747s] uid = pwd.getpwnam(user).pw_uid [ 747s] KeyError: "getpwnam(): name not found: 'nobody'" [ 747s] [ 747s] ====================================================================== [ 747s] ERROR: test_user (test.test_subprocess.POSIXProcessTestCase) (user='nobody', close_fds=True) [ 747s] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ 747s] Traceback (most recent call last): [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py", line 1805, in test_user [ 747s] output = subprocess.check_output( [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 419, in check_output [ 747s] return run(*popenargs, stdout=PIPE, timeout=timeout, check=True, [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 510, in run [ 747s] with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process: [ 747s] File "/home/abuild/rpmbuild/BUILD/Python-3.9.0a3/Lib/subprocess.py", line 929, in __init__ [ 747s] uid = pwd.getpwnam(user).pw_uid [ 747s] KeyError: "getpwnam(): name not found: 'nobody'" [ 747s] [ 747s] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ 747s] I am not sure what is the proper solution here. Whether test should be skipped if nobody doesn’t exist, or the test should switch to user 0, or the current user?

 New changeset f7b5d419bf871d9cc898982c7b6b4c043f7d5e9d by Victor Stinner in branch 'master': bpo-39855: Fix test_subprocess if nobody user doesn't exist (GH-18781) https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/f7b5d419bf871d9cc898982c7b6b4c043f7d5e9d 

Python 3.8 is not affected. I close the issue.