[Python-Dev] Proposal for new core module: UserFIle

[Oren Tirosh]

On Sat, Dec 13, 2003 at 10:54:28AM -0500, Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> At 10:35 AM 12/13/03 -0500, Oren Tirosh wrote:
> 
> >The signal module has been reluctantly accepted into Python but if you
> >want to actually use it you are on your own - don't use the builtin
> >file object and implement all I/O calls yourself with the os module so
> >you can retry on EINTR.
> 
> Maybe this should be added as a prominent warning at the top of the signal 
> module docs?  While this:
> 
> """When a signal arrives during an I/O operation, it is possible that the 
> I/O operation raises an exception after the signal handler returns"""

Nice. Would you like to submit a doc patch?

> does seem to imply what you're pointing out, your phrasing above seems to 
> be much clearer about the scope and consequences of the issue.  :)

Clearer, but I'm not sure it's the whole story. Guido hints at some 
other unspecified evil lurking there. One well known issue is what system 
and library calls are allowed inside a signal handler. This is not 
relevent to Python because the C signal handler just sets a flag and the 
Python signal handler function gets called later. Can anyone point out 
other *specific* issues? 

   Oren