[Python-Dev] Extension modules, Threading, and the GIL

[Tim Peters]

[Martin v. Lowis]
> Then of course you know more than Tim would grant you: you do have an
> interpreter state, and hence you can infer that Python has been
> initialized. So I infer that your requirements are different
> from Tim's.

If so, I doubt they'll stay that way <wink>.  I don't want Mark to *have* to
know whether there's an interpreter state available, so the all-purpose
prologue code will need to have a way to know that without Mark's help.  I
do want Mark to be *able* to use a leaner prologue dance if he happens to
know that an interpreter state is available.  I'd also like for that leaner
prologue dance to be able to assert that an interpreter state is indeed
available.

"The leaner prologue dance" may be identical to the "all-purpose prologue
code"; whether or not it can be is an implementation detail, which should
become clear later.