bug: cyclic aliases detected when inspecting compiled modules

[elfkuzco]

Description of the bug

When the merge_init_into_class is set to true, mkdocs throws a CyclicAliasError as a consequence of inspecting a compiled module. The hack around it currently is to remove docstrings from the __init__ method (or the class heading) and set merge_init_into_class to `false. However, this means that documentation for such classes are missing. Furthermore, not even the attributes of the base class and children are shown in the documentation

To Reproduce

git clone git@github.com:elfkuzco/python-libzim.git -b online-api-doc
hatch shell
SIGN_APPLE=0 hatch run build-ext
mkdocs serve

Full traceback

Full traceback

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocs/livereload/__init__.py", line 211, in _build_loop
    self.builder()
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocs/commands/serve.py", line 67, in builder
    build(config, serve_url=None if is_clean else serve_url, dirty=is_dirty)
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocs/commands/build.py", line 310, in build
    _populate_page(file.page, config, files, dirty)
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocs/commands/build.py", line 167, in _populate_page
    page.render(config, files)
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocs/structure/pages.py", line 285, in render
    self.content = md.convert(self.markdown)
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/markdown/core.py", line 357, in convert
    root = self.parser.parseDocument(self.lines).getroot()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/markdown/blockparser.py", line 117, in parseDocument
    self.parseChunk(self.root, '\n'.join(lines))
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/markdown/blockparser.py", line 136, in parseChunk
    self.parseBlocks(parent, text.split('\n\n'))
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/markdown/blockparser.py", line 158, in parseBlocks
    if processor.run(parent, blocks) is not False:
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings/extension.py", line 130, in run
    html, handler, data = self._process_block(identifier, block, heading_level)
                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings/extension.py", line 230, in _process_block
    rendered = handler.render(data, options)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/handler.py", line 425, in render
    return template.render(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 1295, in render
    self.environment.handle_exception()
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 942, in handle_exception
    raise rewrite_traceback_stack(source=source)
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/module.html.jinja", line 1, in top-level template code
    {% extends "_base/module.html.jinja" %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/module.html.jinja", line 83, in top-level template code
    {% block contents scoped %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/module.html.jinja", line 108, in block 'contents'
    {% block children scoped %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/module.html.jinja", line 115, in block 'children'
    {% include "children"|get_template with context %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/children.html.jinja", line 1, in top-level template code
    {% extends "_base/children.html.jinja" %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/children.html.jinja", line 73, in top-level template code
    {% include class|get_template with context %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/class.html.jinja", line 1, in top-level template code
    {% extends "_base/class.html.jinja" %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/class.html.jinja", line 75, in top-level template code
    {% block signature scoped %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mkdocstrings_handlers/python/templates/material/_base/class.html.jinja", line 85, in block 'signature'
    {% if function.overloads %}
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/jinja2/environment.py", line 490, in getattr
    return getattr(obj, attribute)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1584, in overloads
    return cast(Union[Module, Class, Function], self.final_target).overloads
                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1697, in final_target
    target = target.target  # type: ignore[assignment]
             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1662, in target
    self.resolve_target()
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1729, in resolve_target
    self._resolve_target()
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1747, in _resolve_target
    self._target.aliases[self.path] = self  # type: ignore[union-attr]  # we just set the target
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1301, in aliases
    return self.final_target.aliases
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/lib/python3.11/site-packages/_griffe/models.py", line 1695, in final_target
    raise CyclicAliasError([*paths_seen, target.path])
_griffe.exceptions.CyclicAliasError: Cyclic aliases detected:
  libzim.ContentProvider.__init__
  libzim.writer.ContentProvider.__init__
  libzim.ContentProvider.__init__

Expected behavior

I expected the alias to end at libzim.writer.ContentProvider.__init__ but that in turn points to the libzim.ContentProvider.__init__. The class is defined in libzim.writer even though one can import it from libzim directly.

Environment information

- __System__: Linux-6.1.0-18-amd64-x86_64-with-glibc2.36
- __Python__: cpython 3.11.3 (/home/elf/.local/share/hatch/env/virtual/libzim/hfWdK34c/libzim/bin/python)
- __Environment variables__:
- __Installed packages__:
  - `griffe` v1.5.5

Additional context

I inspected the graph generated by griffe with and without the force_inspection flag and I observed that this does not happen when using the .pyi files. The graph with the force_inspection indeed seems to be a cyclic one as the __init__ methods are all aliases. This only happens when working with base classes and classes that derive them from them and is not reproducible with simple classes.

[pawamoy]

Tracked in mkdocstrings/griffe#355.