[Python-Dev] Fixing the GIL (with a BFS scheduler)

[Nick Coghlan]

Nir Aides wrote:
> I would like to restart this thread with 2 notes from the lively discussion:
> 
> a) Issue 7946 (and this discussion?) concerns Python 3.2
> b) The GIL problems are not specific to OSX. The old and new GIL
> misbehave on GNU/Linux and Windows too.

I think Antoine and Bill went off an a bit of a tangent that *is*
specific to Mac OS X and the old GIL (where a Python application not
only fails to take advantage of additional cores, but actually runs
slower than it does on a less powerful single core machine).

The convoying problem identified in issue 7946 does indeed apply to the
new GIL on multiple platforms. Without reviewing either proposed patch
in detail, I personally am slightly inclined to favour David's suggested
solution, both because I better understand the explanation of how it
works (and simplicity is a virtue from a maintainability point of view),
and because the BFS approach appears to run into trouble when it comes
to identifying a suitable cross platform time reference.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia
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