Prevent `Queue#dequeue` from blowing the stack

In the case of many sequential jobs having been deleted, a recursive
implementation of `Queue#dequeue` is prone to blowing the stack in the
absence of tail-recursion support. Change the implementation from
recursive to iterative to work around this issue in CPython.

rq/queue.py

@@ -329,22 +329,22 @@ class Queue(object):
 
         Returns a job_class instance, which can be executed or inspected.
         """
-        job_id = self.pop_job_id()
+        while True:
-        if job_id is None:
+            job_id = self.pop_job_id()
-            return None
+            if job_id is None:
-        try:
+                return None
-            job = self.job_class.fetch(job_id, connection=self.connection)
+            try:
-        except NoSuchJobError as e:
+                job = self.job_class.fetch(job_id, connection=self.connection)
-            # Silently pass on jobs that don't exist (anymore),
+            except NoSuchJobError as e:
-            # and continue by reinvoking itself recursively
+                # Silently pass on jobs that don't exist (anymore),
-            return self.dequeue()
+                continue
-        except UnpickleError as e:
+            except UnpickleError as e:
-            # Attach queue information on the exception for improved error
+                # Attach queue information on the exception for improved error
-            # reporting
+                # reporting
-            e.job_id = job_id
+                e.job_id = job_id
-            e.queue = self
+                e.queue = self
-            raise e
+                raise e
-        return job
+            return job
 
     @classmethod
     def dequeue_any(cls, queues, timeout, connection=None):

tests/test_queue.py

@@ -173,6 +173,14 @@ class TestQueue(RQTestCase):
         # ...and assert the queue count when down
         self.assertEquals(q.count, 0)
 
+    def test_dequeue_deleted_jobs(self):
+        """Dequeueing deleted jobs from queues don't blow the stack."""
+        q = Queue()
+        for _ in range(1,1000):
+            job = q.enqueue(say_hello)
+            job.delete()
+        q.dequeue()
+
     def test_dequeue_instance_method(self):
         """Dequeueing instance method jobs from queues."""
         q = Queue()