[Python-Dev] Activating pymalloc

[Tim Peters]

[Guido]
> ...
> I think what's documented is of little value here given that few
> people bother to read it, and most people instead read the source. :-(

Heh.  That gets me back to where I landed many months ago:  because people
*do* rely on what the code has actually done, and what the code has actually
done is expand to platform "malloc" and "free", the only truly safe way to
start using pymalloc is to map all the existing macros to malloc and free
directly, and change the core to use a new API (which motivated extension
authors would be welcome to use too, provided they agreed to believe the new
API's docs <wink>).  I expect a much simpler API would be possible if it
were YAGNI-free -- even the very old distinction between "plain memory" and
"object memory" has proved to be a YAGNI (worse, is actively getting in the
way now).

> ...
> Tim, do you think you're ready to make a specific proposal?

No, and until we make up our minds about whether to start over, it's really
two or three different proposals.