title: Python 2.5 subprocess.Popen problem
body: <p>I'm trying to run the following little Python script:</p>
  
  <pre><code>#!/usr/local/bin/python2.5
  import sys, subprocess
  child = subprocess.Popen("muscle -stable -FASTA",
                           stdin=sys.stdin,
                           stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                           stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
                           shell=(sys.platform!="win32"))
  print child.stderr.read()
  print child.stdout.read()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Which works fine if <code>stdin</code> does not exceed about 3750 characters. Above this limit, the subprocess does no longer produce any <code>stdout</code> or <code>stderr</code>. If I switch them for <code>sys.stdout</code> and <code>sys.stderr</code> respectively, everything works again as expected. The <code>muscle</code> executable writes to both <code>stdout</code> and <code>stderr</code> when called from command-line.</p>
  
  <p>Any suggestions what could be the cause and how to solve this?- best without updating Python, since the installation is on a server I have limited access to.</p>