Re: recursion limit exceeded in Python API, but there's only one function in traceback

Paul_Koning
2014-10-17T15:04:25Z

On Oct 17, 2014, at 6:11 AM, Phil Muldoon <pmuldoon@redhat.com> wrote:

> ...
> Right. gdb.execute won't return until the command has completed.
> Also the Python GIL has been acquired (as this is coming from the
> Python interpreter) and so now Python is also blocked too. So in
> effect the only thing running at this point is the gdb.execute command
> that was invoked (in your case, the continue command). That will
> return, and then the Python GIL will be released and the rest of the
> script will continue.
>
> I have a patch I need to upstream that adds a release_gil keyword to
> gdb.execute. This optionally releases the GIL before executing the
> command. But I have not got around to that yet.

Could you explain why gdb.execute should ever hold onto the GIL while performing the command? I view gdb.execute as akin to an I/O operation, which releases the GIL around the I/O. Another way to look at it is that execute is performing a GDB command. Either that isn’t a Python operation — in which case the GIL is not needed since the data it protects won’t be touched. Or it is a command that (possibly indirectly) invokes another Python operation — in which case the GIL has to be released or you end up with a deadlock.

What am I missing?

paul