[Python-Dev] Revert #12085 fix for __del__ attribute error message

[R. David Murray]

On Sat, 21 Sep 2013 17:16:41 -0400, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
> When an AttributeError is raised in a __del__ method, it is caught and 
> ignored, except that it is not completely ignored but is replaced by a 
> warning message sent to stderr. Example:
>  >>> class C():
> 	def __del__(self): raise AttributeError
> 	
>  >>> c=C()
>  >>> del c
> Exception AttributeError: AttributeError() in <bound method C.__del__ of 
> <__main__.C object at 0x000000000351A198>> ignored

This is a replacement for a traceback.  In later Python versions, the
full traceback is printed.  In the general case it represents a bug in
the code that should be fixed.  Most such errors arise from the vagaries
of module finalization (such as your issue 19021), but not all of them
do: the rest represent real bugs in __del__ methods (which are executed
asynchronously in the general case).

So the question is, is the bug in the user code, or the stdlib code?
>From the issue, it sounds like it could be considered either (or most
likely, both).

--David