Document PyInterpreterState_Main().

[ericsnowcurrently]

BPO	36157
Nosy	@ericsnowcurrently, @miss-islington, @nanjekyejoannah
PRs	bpo-36157:Document PyInterpreterState_Main() #12238 [3.7] bpo-36157:Document PyInterpreterState_Main() (GH-12238) #12650

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

Show more details

GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2019-04-01.15:22:42.153>
created_at = <Date 2019-03-01.16:36:40.689>
labels = ['easy', '3.7', '3.8', 'docs']
title = 'Document PyInterpreterState_Main().'
updated_at = <Date 2019-04-01.15:22:42.152>
user = 'https://github.com/ericsnowcurrently'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-04-01.15:22:42.152>
actor = 'eric.snow'
assignee = 'docs@python'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2019-04-01.15:22:42.153>
closer = 'eric.snow'
components = ['Documentation']
creation = <Date 2019-03-01.16:36:40.689>
creator = 'eric.snow'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 36157
keywords = ['patch', 'easy']
message_count = 8.0
messages = ['336929', '336996', '337496', '339151', '339209', '339297', '339298', '339299']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['docs@python', 'eric.snow', 'miss-islington', 'nanjekyejoannah']
pr_nums = ['12238', '12650']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = None
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue36157'
versions = ['Python 3.7', 'Python 3.8']

[ericsnowcurrently]

PyInterpreterState_Main() is a function in the public C-API that returns a pointer to the main interpreter's state. The main interpreter is the first one created by the CPython runtime during startup (e.g. when the "python" command is run).

Documentation for PyInterpreterState_Main() should be on the "Initialization, Finalization, and Threads" page of the C-API docs, probably in the "Sub-interpreter support" section. [1] It could also possibly go in the "Advanced Debugger Support" section. [2]

FYI, I added PyInterpreterState_Main() at PyCon US 2017 (commit f5df46d) when I merged Nick Coghlan's internal implementation of PEP-432. So it has been available since 3.7.

[1] https://docs.python.org/3/c-api/init.html#sub-interpreter-support
[2] https://docs.python.org/3/c-api/init.html#advanced-debugger-support

[nanjekyejoannah]

@Mariatta do you want to keep this for the mentored sprint at PyCon?

[nanjekyejoannah]

Since there was no response, I decided to open a PR for this.

[ericsnowcurrently]

As I noted on the PR, this might be a good chance to make sure the C-API docs are clear about what the "main" interpreter is.

[nanjekyejoannah]

I will work on this in a separate PR.

I opened #bpo-36487 (https://bugs.python.org/issue36487) to track this.

[miss-islington]

New changeset 8c61739 by Miss Islington (bot) (Joannah Nanjekye) in branch 'master':
bpo-36157:Document PyInterpreterState_Main() (GH-12238)
8c61739

[miss-islington]

New changeset 35fc38e by Miss Islington (bot) in branch '3.7':
bpo-36157:Document PyInterpreterState_Main() (GH-12238)
35fc38e

[ericsnowcurrently]

Thanks for working on this, Joannah! :)