[ python-Bugs-1096310 ] sys.__stdout__ doco isn't discouraging enough

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Bugs item #1096310, was opened at 2005-01-05 04:18
Message generated for change (Comment added) made by kbk
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https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=1096310&group_id=5470

Category: Documentation
Group: None
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Submitted By: Just van Rossum (jvr)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: sys.__stdout__ doco isn't discouraging enough

Initial Comment:
sys.__stdout__ is quite often abused (two independent sightings on 
c.l.py yesterday): people use it to restore stdout instead of saving 
the previous stdout.

The real intended use for __stdout__ isn't all that clear (I keep 
wondering myself why it's there in the first place; its use case 
must be quite obscure), but more importantly I think the sys docs 
should contain a warning that __stdout__ is *not* suitable to 
restore sys.stdout after redirection.

I'd produce a patch if I knew how to better describe what 
sys.__stdout__ was *for*.

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>Comment By: Kurt B. Kaiser (kbk)
Date: 2005-01-08 17:41

Message:
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In IDLE it's useful for debugging:
print>>sys.__stderr__, "!!!BOO!!!"
will print a message to the console no matter what the
redirection status is.  So that's a use in addition to the
two given in the sys module docs.  Agreed that its bad
practice to use them to restore redirection, but that IMO
belongs in a tutorial, not the reference docs....

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