[Python-Dev] Better module shutdown procedure (original) (raw)

Neil Schemenauer nas at arctrix.com
Thu Oct 15 01:05:56 CEST 2009

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 05:35:38PM -0500, Daniel Stutzbach wrote:

The first and last sentences seem like a contradiction to me. If I cannot guarantee that globals will be valid when del is executed, then I must not reference globals from del.

I think there is confusion about the word "reference". In the method:

def __del__():
    print sys.version

the global variable reference to 'sys' is not a reference on the GC referencing counting sense. IOW, it does not result in a a Py_INCREF while the function is not being executed and therefore should be safe after the proposed change. Currently, it could result in 'None' being printed.

HTH,

Neil

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