[Python-Dev] Why does TemporaryDirectory not wait for `__enter__`?

[Nick Coghlan]

On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 10:52 PM, cool-RR <cool-rr at cool-rr.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> I noticed that the `TemporaryDirectory` context manager creates the folder
> on `__init__` rather than on `__enter__`, resulting in complexity, bugs, and
> hackarounds in `__del__`. I assume there's a good reason for this decision.
> What is it?

>From the docstring: "This has the same behavior as mkdtemp but can be
used as a context manager." Like files, it *can* be used as a context
manager, but doesn't have to be.

Also, the complexity wouldn't go away even if the directory creation
was delayed until the __enter__ invocation. People can still call
__enter__ directly, so __del__ would still be obliged to try to clear
things up as best it could.

Cheers,
Nick.

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