How to Interrupt/Stop/End a hanging multi-threaded python program

Question

I have a python program that implements threads like this:

   class Mythread(threading.Thread):
        def __init__(self, name, q):
            threading.Thread.__init__(self)
            self.name = name
            self.q = q

        def run(self):
            print "Starting %s..." % (self.name)
            while True:
                ## Get data from queue
                data = self.q.get()
                ## do_some_processing with data ###
                process_data(data)
                ## Mark Queue item as done
                self.q.task_done()
            print "Exiting %s..." % (self.name)


    def call_threaded_program():
        ##Setup the threads. Define threads,queue,locks 
        threads = []    
        q = Queue.Queue()
        thread_count = n #some number
        data_list = [] #some data list containing data

        ##Create Threads
        for thread_id in range(1, thread_count+1):
            thread_name = "Thread-" + str(thread_id)
            thread = Mythread(thread_name,q)
            thread.daemon = True
            thread.start()

        ##Fill data in Queue
        for data_item in data_list:
            q.put(data_item)

        try:
            ##Wait for queue to be exhausted and then exit main program
            q.join()
        except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit) as e:
            print "Interrupt Issued. Exiting Program with error state: %s"%(str(e))
            exit(1)

The call_threaded_program() is called from a different program.

I have the code working under normal circumstances. However if an error/exception occurs in one of the threads, then the program is stuck (as the queue join is infinitely blocking). The only way I am able to quit this program is to close the terminal itself.

What is the best way to terminate this program when a thread bails out? Is there a clean (actually I would take any way) way of doing this? I know this question has been asked numerous times, but I am still unable to find a convincing answer. I would really appreciate any help.

EDIT: I tried removing the join on the queue and used a global exit flag as suggested in Is there any way to kill a Thread in Python? However, Now the behavior is so strange, I can't comprehend what is going on.

    import threading
    import Queue
    import time

    exit_flag = False

    class Mythread (threading.Thread):
        def __init__(self,name,q):
            threading.Thread.__init__(self)
            self.name = name
            self.q = q

        def run(self):
            try:    
                # Start Thread
                print "Starting %s...."%(self.name)
                # Do Some Processing
                while not exit_flag:
                    data = self.q.get()
                    print "%s processing %s"%(self.name,str(data))
                    self.q.task_done()
                # Exit thread
                print "Exiting %s..."%(self.name)
            except Exception as e:
                print "Exiting %s due to Error: %s"%(self.name,str(e))


    def main():
        global exit_flag

        ##Setup the threads. Define threads,queue,locks 
        threads = []    
        q = Queue.Queue()
        thread_count = 20
        data_list = range(1,50)

        ##Create Threads
        for thread_id in range(1,thread_count+1):
            thread_name = "Thread-" + str(thread_id)
            thread = Mythread(thread_name,q)
            thread.daemon = True
            threads.append(thread)
            thread.start()

        ##Fill data in Queue
        for data_item in data_list:
          q.put(data_item)


        try:
          ##Wait for queue to be exhausted and then exit main program
          while not q.empty():
            pass

          # Stop the threads
          exit_flag = True

          # Wait for threads to finish
          print "Waiting for threads to finish..."
          while threading.activeCount() > 1:
            print "Active Threads:",threading.activeCount()
            time.sleep(1)
            pass

          print "Finished Successfully"
        except (KeyboardInterrupt, SystemExit) as e:
          print "Interrupt Issued. Exiting Program with error state: %s"%(str(e))


     if __name__ == '__main__':
         main()

The program's output is as below:

    #Threads get started correctly
    #The output also is getting processed but then towards the end, All i see are
    Active Threads: 16
    Active Threads: 16
    Active Threads: 16...

The program then just hangs or keeps on printing the active threads. However since the exit flag is set to True, the thread's run method is not being exercised. So I have no clue as to how these threads are kept up or what is happening.

EDIT: I found the problem. In the above code, thread's get method were blocking and hence unable to quit. Using a get method with a timeout instead did the trick. I have the code for just the run method that I modified below

    def run(self):
            try:
                   #Start Thread
                   printing "Starting %s..."%(self.name)
                   #Do Some processing
                   while not exit_flag:
                          try:
                                data = self.q.get(True,self.timeout)
                                print "%s processing %s"%(self.name,str(data))
                                self.q.task_done()
                          except:
                                 print "Queue Empty or Timeout Occurred. Try Again for %s"%(self.name)


                    # Exit thread
                    print "Exiting %s..."%(self.name)
             except Exception as e:
                print "Exiting %s due to Error: %s"%(self.name,str(e))

Answer 1

If you want to force all the threads to exit when the process exits, you can set the "daemon" flag of the thread to True before the thread is created.

http://docs.python.org/2/library/threading.html#threading.Thread.daemon