I have similar crash with Python 3.7.2 on Linux. Steps to reproduce: send sigint when Python initializes. I've built debug version of Python 3.7.2 and collected core dump: (gdb) thread apply all bt Thread 1 (Thread 0x7f8f5ee67e80 (LWP 13285)): #0 __GI_raise (sig=sig@entry=6) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/raise.c:51 #1 0x00007f8f5dfe742a in __GI_abort () at abort.c:89 #2 0x0000559515870286 in fatal_error (prefix=prefix@entry=0x5595159837f0 <__func__.14264> "init_sys_streams", msg=msg@entry=0x559515983480 "can't initialize sys standard streams", status=-1) at Python/pylifecycle.c:2179 #3 0x0000559515871062 in _Py_FatalInitError (err=...) at Python/pylifecycle.c:2198 #4 0x000055951577d1f5 in pymain_init (pymain=pymain@entry=0x7ffe886aafc0) at Modules/main.c:3019 #5 0x000055951577d215 in pymain_main (pymain=pymain@entry=0x7ffe886aafc0) at Modules/main.c:3032 #6 0x000055951577d29a in _Py_UnixMain (argc=<optimized out>, argv=<optimized out>) at Modules/main.c:3072 #7 0x00005595157763e9 in main (argc=<optimized out>, argv=<optimized out>) at ./Programs/python.c:15