Python, kernel_task hogging CPU

Question

Recently, I've noticed Cee Pee You has reported 100% processor usage which doesn't decrease until I log out. When this happens Activity Monitor shows that both python and kernel_task each occupy over 45% CPU activity, leaving little for anything else.
Usually, I have Safari, Mail, Acquisition, and Activity Monitor open. Quitting any or all of them doesn't decrease the CPU load so I can't tell which one has caused Python to go wild. I have all the latest updates for Tiger including QT.
Can anyone guess what's happening? Is there anything else I can do to determine what program is misbehaving?

Answer 1

John Galt wrote:
How can I find out what application is calling Python?
Try opening Activity Monitor, then switch to display "All Processes, Hierarchically". See if Python is indented just below and well to the right of another process. The upper process is its parent. Don't be fooled by the fact that the Python process will not have an icon, so it might look a bit indented. It's the process title that will be indented. As an example, look to "Activity Monitor" and "pmTool". pmTool is started by Activity monitor.
If you want to see what arguments were used to call the Python process, which could give more clues, use this Terminal command:
<pre class="command">ps -auxww | grep -i python</pre>
Finally, you can look and see if the Python process is reading or writing any files using the command:
<pre class="command">sudo fs_usage pid</pre>
Where "pid" is the process ID number of the python you're seeing hog the CPU. If you don't restrict by the PID, you'll be overwhelmed by the amount of reading and writing going on. When you're asked for your password, don't be alarmed that it won't echo back to you when you type it in. That's for security. To stop fs_usage, type the "control" - "c" combination on your keyboard.
charlie