multiprocessing

What it is and what it does

This package is a backport of Python's built-in multiprocessing module to Python 2.4 and 2.5, which did not include it natively. It provides process-based parallelism, allowing developers to spawn and manage separate Python processes for concurrent execution, with support for process pools, queues, and inter-process communication. The package includes monkey patches to the threading module to ensure forward compatibility with Python 2.6 and 3.0 APIs.

The package was last updated in July 2009 and is now abandoned. Modern Python versions (2.6+, all 3.x) include multiprocessing in the standard library, making this backport obsolete for any currently-supported Python environment. It exists only as a historical artifact for legacy systems still running Python 2.4 or 2.5.

Use it for:

• Running parallel workloads on legacy systems locked to Python 2.4 or 2.5 that lack built-in multiprocessing support.
• Porting older applications from Python 2.6+ down to Python 2.4/2.5 while retaining process-based concurrency.
• Maintaining compatibility with the multiprocessing API across a range of Python 2.x versions in a legacy codebase.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Backport of Python 2.6/3.0 multiprocessing to Python 2.4 and 2.5, enabling process-based parallelism on older Python versions.

No. This package is abandoned (last release July 2009) and targets Python 2.4/2.5, which reached end-of-life over a decade ago. Modern Python includes multiprocessing in the standard library. Install only if you are maintaining a legacy system on Python 2.4 or 2.5 that cannot be upgraded; otherwise, use the built-in multiprocessing module.

Install

multiprocessing on PyPI

pip install multiprocessing

uv add multiprocessing

poetry add multiprocessing

Installing multiprocessing

Before you install

High install friction: package targets Python 2.4 and 2.5 with platform-specific binary distributions (Windows .exe, .egg files for multiple Python versions). Abandoned since 2009 with no maintenance activity.

License in practice

BSD Licence (permissive) imposes no significant restrictions on use or redistribution.

Quickstart

# For Python 2.4 or 2.5:
# pip install multiprocessing==2.6.2.1

from multiprocessing import Process

def worker():
    print('Worker process')

if __name__ == '__main__':
    p = Process(target=worker)
    p.start()
    p.join()

Requires Python 2.4 or 2.5; multiprocessing is built into Python 2.6+ and Python 3.x, making this package obsolete for modern Python versions.

Verify before relying

• Whether this package still installs cleanly on Python 2.4/2.5 given the age of the codebase and platform changes since 2009.
• Compatibility with modern operating systems and their process/threading APIs relative to the 2009 codebase.
• Whether the monkey-patching of the threading module creates conflicts with other packages or modern Python internals.

Package facts

Evidence: multiprocessing-2.6.2.1-py2.4-win32.egg; multiprocessing-2.6.2.1-py2.5-win32.egg; multiprocessing-2.6.2.1.tar.gz; multiprocessing-2.6.2.1.win32-py2.4.exe; multiprocessing-2.6.2.1.win32-py2.5.exe

Tags

More Python Modules packages