uname and other os functions should return a struct sequence instead of a tuple

[larryhastings]

BPO	15118
Nosy	@birkenfeld, @terryjreedy, @jcea, @larryhastings, @merwok, @hynek, @serhiy-storchaka
Files	larry.uname.and.times.structseq.1.diff: First patch, adding structseq for os.uname() and os.times(). larry.uname.and.times.structseq.2.diff larry.uname.and.times.structseq.3.diff: Third patch, chock full of nutritious vitamins. Just the thing a growing snake needs.

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/larryhastings'
closed_at = <Date 2012-06-24.11:35:14.793>
created_at = <Date 2012-06-20.20:12:40.609>
labels = ['type-bug']
title = 'uname and other os functions should return a struct sequence instead of a tuple'
updated_at = <Date 2012-06-24.11:35:14.792>
user = 'https://github.com/larryhastings'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2012-06-24.11:35:14.792>
actor = 'larry'
assignee = 'larry'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2012-06-24.11:35:14.793>
closer = 'larry'
components = []
creation = <Date 2012-06-20.20:12:40.609>
creator = 'larry'
dependencies = []
files = ['26065', '26121', '26123']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 15118
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 12.0
messages = ['163295', '163301', '163302', '163304', '163317', '163537', '163609', '163698', '163714', '163715', '163774', '163775']
nosy_count = 9.0
nosy_names = ['georg.brandl', 'terry.reedy', 'jcea', 'larry', 'eric.araujo', 'Arfrever', 'python-dev', 'hynek', 'serhiy.storchaka']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue15118'
versions = ['Python 3.3', 'Python 3.4']

[larryhastings]

The trend in the standard library is to get rid of awkward Python-1-style tuple return values and switch to struct sequences. (And perhaps, in the fullness of time, to deprecate the iterability of such objects. But that's for the future.)

os.stat is a good example; it's much better to say s = os.stat() then refer to s.st_mtime than s[5] (or whatever the offset is). And doing destructuring assignment... ptui!

I just noticed that the following functions in Modules/posixmodule.c still use BuildValue to build raw tuples:

_getdiskusage
_getfileinformation
forkpty
getloadavg
getresgid
getresuid
openpty
os2_error (can't get excited about this one)
pipe, pipe2
times
uname
wait, waitpid
wait3, wait4 (but one of the values is a struct sequence)

I think it'd be worthwhile to change all of these to struct sequences, sooner or later.

I realize we're almost out of time for 3.3, but perhaps we could hit the important ones (uname! times!) and get to the rest for 3.4?

[jcea]

+1.

[merwok]

os._getdiskusage is an internal helper for shutil.getdiskusage on Windows, which does return a named tuple. The private C function can continue returning a tuple IMO.

+1 on changing uname for 3.3! No opinion on times; I don’t use it and don’t understand the member names anyway :)

[serhiy-storchaka]

Agree for changing times() and uname(). But functions that return a 2- or 3-element tuple, which immediately will be unpacked, no need to change. Keep it simple.

[larryhastings]

Patch implementing struct sequences for os.uname() and os.times(). Those two are a slam dunk, so let's try and get 'em into 3.3.

Patch includes docs! Maybe it's ready! Who knows!

[terryjreedy]

(OT, but since you brought it up: In my opinion, deprecating the iterability of any builtin class is a horrible idea. It is a Python feature, especially in 3.x, that all *are* iterable. However, I would agree that named tuples should be iterable by name-object pairs, just like dicts. Position is not the real key.)

[larryhastings]

OT, but since you brought it up: In my opinion, deprecating the
iterability of any builtin class is a horrible idea. It is a
Python feature, especially in 3.x, that all *are* iterable.

As you say, OT. But I don't see how it's a feature. Destructuring assignment is opaque (what was the order of fields again?), and with named attributes almost always unnecessary. And I find it hard to believe that there's a good use case for iterating over the values in a loop.

I don't propose deprecating the iterability of these structures simply because I think it's inappropriate in a point release. But I hope to remove that misfeature in Python 4.

(If you wish to continue the discussion, perhaps we should take it somewhere else?)

[larryhastings]

Okay, this patch is definitely ready. Changes from the last patch:

• The two return types are now exposed in the os module (os.uname_result
  and os.times_result) and are permanently on even if os.uname() or
  os.times() are not available.
• I updated the library to use the field names where appropriate.
  Fun trivia: there are no uses of os.times() in the library--not even
  in the regression test suite.

Of course, with the patch applied python passes the entire regression test suite. (Of course!)

Can I get a review?

[larryhastings]

Attached is patch #3. Ned Deily advised me not to touch distutils, and packaging is in the process of being removed. So I backed out of my changes to those two packages. Apart from that the patch is the same as #2.

Georg: mind if this goes in before freeze?

[larryhastings]

Whoops, here's the patch.

[python-dev]

New changeset 460407f35aa9 by Larry Hastings in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-15118: Change return value of os.uname() and os.times() from
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/460407f35aa9

[larryhastings]

Yummy!