Python generator to search for a running service from an output of initctl on Ubuntu

service_is_running.py

import os
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE, STDOUT                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                        
def is_executable(command):                                                                                                             
    """Returns if a command matches an executable on the PATH"""                                                                        
                                                                                                                                        
    paths = os.environ.get("PATH", "").split(os.path.pathsep)                                                                           
    candidates = [command] + [os.path.join(p, command) for p in paths]                                                                  
    return any(os.access(path, os.X_OK) for path in candidates)                                                                         
                                                                                                                                        
def shell_out(command, timeout=300):                                                                                                    
    cmdfile = command.strip("(").split()[0]                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                        
    cmd_env = os.environ                                                                                                                
    # ensure consistent locale for collected command output                                                                             
    cmd_env['LC_ALL'] = 'C'                                                                                                             
    if is_executable(cmdfile):                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                        
        # use /usr/bin/timeout to implement a timeout                                                                                   
        if timeout and is_executable("/usr/bin/timeout"):                                                                               
            command = "/usr/bin/timeout %ds %s" % (timeout, command)                                                                    
                                                                                                                                        
        p = Popen(command, shell=True,                                                                                                  
                stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT,                                                                                             
                bufsize=-1, env = cmd_env)                                                                                              
        stdout, stderr = p.communicate()                                                                                                
        return (p.returncode, stdout, 0)                                                                                                
    else:                                                                                                                               
        return (127, "", 0) 
        
def services():                                                                                                                 
    """ Generator that returns all services found on system                                                                         
    """                                                                                                                             
    (ret, res, stat) = shell_out("initctl list")                                                                                    
    for svc in res.split("\n")[:-1]:                                                                                                
        is_running = True if "start" in svc else False                                                                              
        yield (svc.split()[0], is_running)

def is_running(service):                                                                                                      
    """ Checks if a service is running                                                                                              
    """                                                                                                                             
    # (ret, res, stat) = shell_out("initctl status %s" % (service,))                                                                
    # return True if "start" in res else False                                                                                      
    return any((service and True) in x for x in services())