`trace` function is cleared after `RecursionError` is fired
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
I'm using coverage and pytest-cov in CI to measure the line coverage of the unittests. It is achieved by registering a trace function with sys.settrace.
However, after binsecting my unittests, I found that when a RecursionError is raised, the system trace function will be cleared. That will cause a warning emitted by coverage:
~/Projects/cpython/venv/lib/python3.15t/site-packages/coverage/pytracer.py:355: CoverageWarning: Trace function changed, data is likely wrong: None != <bound method PyTracer._trace of <PyTracer at 0x200021dcc20: 2076 data points in 11 files>> (trace-changed)
self.warn(
Reproducible code:
import sys
def tracer(*args, **kwargs):
pass
def factorial(n: int) -> int:
"""Calculate the factorial of a number."""
if n <= 1:
return 1
return n * factorial(n - 1)
sys.settrace(tracer)
assert sys.gettrace() is tracer
sys.setrecursionlimit(64)
assert sys.gettrace() is tracer
try:
_ = factorial(100)
except RecursionError:
pass
assert sys.gettrace() is None
REPL Output:
# Add a code block here, if required
$ python3
Python 3.13.3 (main, Apr 8 2025, 13:54:08) [Clang 16.0.0 (clang-1600.0.26.6)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import sys
>>> def tracer(*args, **kwargs):
... pass
...
>>> def factorial(n):
... if n <= 1:
... return 1
... return n * factorial(n - 1)
...
>>> sys.settrace(tracer)
>>> sys.gettrace() is tracer
True
>>> sys.setrecursionlimit(64)
>>> _ = factorial(100)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<python-input-6>", line 1, in <module>
_ = factorial(100)
File "<python-input-2>", line 4, in factorial
return n * factorial(n - 1)
~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
File "<python-input-2>", line 4, in factorial
return n * factorial(n - 1)
~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
File "<python-input-2>", line 4, in factorial
return n * factorial(n - 1)
~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^
[Previous line repeated 51 more times]
File "<python-input-2>", line 1, in factorial
def factorial(n):
RecursionError: maximum recursion depth exceeded
>>> sys.gettrace() is None
True
CPython versions tested on:
CPython main branch
Operating systems tested on:
macOS
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Run the supplied reproducer and inspect the behavior of sys.settrace, sys.gettrace, and RecursionError around the recursive factorial call. Trace the CPython implementation paths involved in recursion-limit handling and tracing; done means the registered trace function remains available after the RecursionError, with regression coverage for the reproducer.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100