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Fix Python tuple packing treating __eq__-None objects as NULL - #13967

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Divyansh151005:fix/python-tuple-none-identity-check
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Fix Python tuple packing treating __eq__-None objects as NULL#13967
Divyansh151005 wants to merge 1 commit into
apple:mainfrom
Divyansh151005:fix/python-tuple-none-identity-check

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@Divyansh151005

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Problem

Fixes #13267.

In bindings/python/fdb/tuple.py, _encode (and _code_for) used value == None to detect null tuple elements. That was intentional for fdb.impl.Value objects that wrap None (they override equality), but it also meant any user-defined object whose __eq__ returns true for None was silently packed as NULL (\x00) instead of raising ValueError. That is a silent key-corruption bug.

Solution

Introduce _is_null() that:

  1. Treats real None with identity (is None).
  2. Still treats fdb.impl.Value wrapping None as null. Those objects override __class__ to bytes, so isinstance(value, bytes) and value == None matches them; real bytes are never equal to None.
  3. Rejects other objects that only override __eq__ to match None (they fall through to the existing ValueError).

_encode and _code_for both use this helper so packing and comparison stay consistent.

Testing

Added regression coverage in bindings/python/tests/tuple_tests.py:

  • None still packs/unpacks as NULL (including nested).
  • Objects with __eq__ matching None raise ValueError (no silent NULL).
  • Value-like stand-in (__class__bytes, wraps None) still packs as NULL.

Ran locally (with a generated apiversion.py stub for import):

test_none_packs_as_null OK
test_eq_none_object_rejected OK
test_value_like_none_still_null OK
flake8 OK on changed files

Also verified Value-like non-None bytes still pack identically to real bytes, and compare with None still works.

Use identity for real None and only treat fdb.impl.Value objects that wrap
None as null, so custom types that override __eq__ can no longer silently
corrupt packed keys. Fixes apple#13267.
@Divyansh151005
Divyansh151005 force-pushed the fix/python-tuple-none-identity-check branch 2 times, most recently from 9139512 to aec3e6a Compare August 29, 2026 18:16
@saintstack

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I closed the justification over at #13267 as basically working as intended -- see the comment there. I was going to close this @Divyansh151005 but then asked the local LLM its opinion and it suggests:

Don't close #13267. This PR resolves it properly. What it needs is:

  1. Drop the three calls from tupleTest() — that function is dead Python 2.
  2. Either wire this file into CI or say plainly that it isn't run — otherwise the tests are decorative. That's arguably a pre-existing repo gap the PR shouldn't have to fix, but it should be named.
  3. Add the coupling note to _is_null: it works because FutureString.getclass() returns bytes. That's the invariant the whole fix rests on.
  4. Reconcile the reported test output with what the code prints.
    Point 2 is the interesting one an orphaned Python-2 test file in bindings/python/tests/ is a real finding this PR surfaced by accident, and it's worth more than the bug that led here.

The above I read as a mixed message over a small issue. Perhaps we should just close this out and figure more substantial or more straightforward items to work on. Happy to help. Thanks for contributing.

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Bug: _encode in Python tuple binding uses == None instead of is None, risking silent NULL encoding of custom objects

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