`copy.copy` ignores methods of the object which are not part of the class
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
from types import MethodType
from copy import copy, deepcopy
class MyClass:
def __copy__(self):
print("Call __copy__ of class")
return self
def __deepcopy__(self, memo):
print("Call __deepcopy__ of class")
return self
obj1 = MyClass()
obj2 = MyClass()
def copy_func(self):
print("New copy function")
return self
def deepcopy_func(self, memo):
print("New deepcopy function")
return self
obj11 = copy(obj1)
# > Call __copy__ of class
obj12 = deepcopy(obj1)
# > Call __deepcopy__ of class
obj21 = copy(obj2)
# > Call __copy__ of class
obj22 = deepcopy(obj2)
# > Call __deepcopy__ of class
obj1.__copy__ = copy_func.__get__(obj1)
obj1.__deepcopy__ = deepcopy_func.__get__(obj1)
obj2.__copy__ = MethodType(copy_func, obj2)
obj2.__deepcopy__ = MethodType(deepcopy_func, obj2)
obj13 = copy(obj1)
# > Call __copy__ of class
obj14 = deepcopy(obj1)
# > New deepcopy function
obj23 = copy(obj2)
# > Call __copy__ of class
obj24 = deepcopy(obj2)
# > New deepcopy function
Knowing, that binding additional methods to an object after instantiation might not be recommended, the behavior shown above confuses me. My expectation is that copy.copy and copy.deepcopy both use the __copy__/__deepcopy__ method of the actual object passed to it (code). However, copy.copy does not, but rather uses the __copy__ method of the class which could be different from that of the object (code).
Historically, the behavior of copy.copy and copy.deepcopy was first identical (c06e3acc735a6e9cf28d0f511493bcfd8829117d, using the method of the class in both cases), but lateron changed (e690883ccf8081e5baab0e9d71f596f26245b569).
Apart from the differences between the behavior of copy.copy and copy.deepcopy w.r.t. the __copy__/__deepcopy__ methods, the copy.copy method itself takes two different approaches when looking for methods to create the copy: __copy__ is searched inside the class, and in case it is not found, the __reduce_ex__/__reduce__ are looked up in the object (code).
CPython versions tested on:
3.11
Operating systems tested on:
Linux
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start with Lib/copy.py at the copy and reduction lookup paths linked in the report, then run the provided reproducer on the supported Python version. Review the historical commits mentioned to understand why copy.copy and copy.deepcopy diverged. Done means the behavior for instance-bound copy and deepcopy methods is resolved consistently and covered by an appropriate regression test.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100