test_signals.py

#!/bin/bash

set -x

cat > tmp.py <<EOF

import os, signal

print os.getpid()

state = None

def handler(sig, frame):
    global state
    print "caught"
    oldstate = state
    state = "new"

    if oldstate:
        print "second"
    else:
        print "first"


signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, handler)

while True:
    pass

EOF

python tmp.py &
pid=$!
sleep 0.1
parallel kill $pid ::: $pid ::: $pid

sleep 0.5

kill -9 $pid