[Stackless] A question about exceptions

[Christian Tismer]

Steve Holden wrote:
> A pleasure. I'm pretty sure python-dev will tell you to call 
> sys-clear_error() if you don't want the references around.

There have been several discussions about this, and I remember
very well talking to Guido about this as well.
At some point, it resulted in an not so easy to understand but
clear comment in ceval.c, see line 3047 ff.

It is a little screwed about timing of storage of exceptions,
and PyPy does it more straight-forward, since it has no
backward-compatibility issues.

Key point is (from the comment):

     - Within one frame, sys.exc_ZZZ will hold the last exception caught
       *in that frame*.

     - But initially, and as long as no exception is caught in a given
       frame, sys.exc_ZZZ will hold the last exception caught in the
       previous frame (or the frame before that, etc.).

and:

The invariant is that
   frame->f_exc_ZZZ is NULL iff the current frame never caught an
   exception (where "catching" an exception applies only to successful
   except clauses); and if the current frame ever caught an exception,
   frame->f_exc_ZZZ is the exception that was stored in tstate->exc_ZZZ
   at the start of the current frame.

It is true that an exception could be cleared automatically
after it is handled, and it could be discussed.

The storage in the frame is IMHO confusing and would be clearer if the
caller's frame was used, but this doesn't always exist, and since
it is possible to produce exceptions without a frame, it would make
things even more complicated. But it is true that the exception in
a frame does not belong to that frame.

This is anyway an implementation detail. The interface in question
is independent from that, and if it should be possible to raise
a dead exception, I don't know, and don't care actually too much.

cheers - chris

-- 
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