How to recover lost Python source code if it's still resident in-memory

recover_source_code.md

How to recover lost Python source code if it's still resident in-memory

I screwed up using git ("git checkout --" on the wrong file) and managed to delete the code I had just written... but it was still running in a process in a docker container. Here's how I got it back, using https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyrasite/ and https://pypi.python.org/pypi/uncompyle6

Attach a shell to the docker container

Install GDB (needed by pyrasite)

apt-get update && apt-get install gdb

Install pyrasite - this will let you attach a Python shell to the still-running process

pip install pyrasite

Install uncompyle6, which will let you get Python source code back from in-memory code objects

pip install uncompyle6

Find the PID of the process that is still running

ps aux | grep python

Attach an interactive prompt using pyrasite

pyrasite-shell <PID>

Now you're in an interactive prompt! Import the code you need to recover

>>> from my_package import my_module

Figure out which functions and classes you need to recover

>>> dir(my_module)
['MyClass', 'my_function']

Decompile the function into source code

>>> import uncompyle6
>>> import sys
>>> uncompyle6.main.uncompyle(
    2.7, my_module.my_function.func_code, sys.stdout
)
# uncompyle6 version 2.9.10
# Python bytecode 2.7
# Decompiled from: Python 2.7.12 (default, Nov 19 2016, 06:48:10) 
# [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]
# Embedded file name: /srv/my_package/my_module.py
function_body = "appears here"

For the class, you'll need to decompile each method in turn

>>> uncompyle6.main.uncompyle(
    2.7, my_module.MyClass.my_method.im_func.func_code, sys.stdout
)
# uncompyle6 version 2.9.10
# Python bytecode 2.7
# Decompiled from: Python 2.7.12 (default, Nov 19 2016, 06:48:10) 
# [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]
# Embedded file name: /srv/my_package/my_module.py
class_method_body = "appears here"

For those who might encounter similar issues just as mine, the order of input parameters of the function decompile should go like this:

def f(a, b):
    return a + b

import sys
uncompyle6.main.decompile(
    f.__code__, (3, 8), sys.stdout
)