Parallelization on muli-CPU hardware?

[exarkun at divmod.com]

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 22:01:33 GMT, "Neil Hodgson" <nhodgson at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>Luis P Caamano:
> 
> > Therefore, fixing the GIL was always in competition with existing code
> > and libraries, and it always lost because it was (and still is)
> > considered "not worth the effort."
> 
>    Greg Stein implemented a "free-threaded" version of Python in 1996 and
> had another look in 2000.
> 
> http://python.tpnet.pl/contrib-09-Dec-1999/System/threading.README
> http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-April/003605.html
> 
>     So, it is not the initial implementation of a GIL-free Python that is
> the stumbling block but the maintenance of the code. The poor performance of
> free-threaded Python contributed to the lack of interest.

  "existing code" refers only partially to the current CPython implementation.  Rather more importantly, it refers to the large number of third party extension modules with which it is desired to retain compatibility.

  Recompiling CPython isn't a big deal.  Recompiling, possibly after partially rewriting, N other packages is.

  Jp