Importing ctypes results in extra open libffi file descriptor since 3.14
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Description
Bug report
Bug description:
On python 3.13 (Fedora), importing ctypes results in the following output from lsfd:
python3 893377 daandemeyer mem r-x--- REG 0:37 0 304862113 /usr/lib64/libffi.so.8.1.4
python3 893377 daandemeyer mem r----- REG 0:37 0 304862113 /usr/lib64/libffi.so.8.1.4
python3 893377 daandemeyer mem r----- REG 0:37 0 304862113 /usr/lib64/libffi.so.8.1.4
python3 893377 daandemeyer mem rw---- REG 0:37 0 304862113 /usr/lib64/libffi.so.8.1.4
On python 3.14 (Fedora), importing ctypes results in the following output from lsfd:
python3 892407 daandemeyer 5 r----- REG 0:238 1342 7553 /usr/lib64/libffi.so.8.2.0
This ended up breaking https://github.com/systemd/mkosi because it relied on the fact that no new regular file descriptors were opened by importing ctypes (on python 3.14 the file descriptor shows up in /proc/self/fd whereas on python 3.13 the file descriptors are memory maps which don't show up in /proc/self/fd). I searched through the commit list and couldn't find the commit that introduced this change. It also didn't seem to be documented in the release notes. Can anyone point me to the commit introducing this change and the reasoning behind it?
CPython versions tested on:
3.14
Operating systems tested on:
Linux
Contributor guide
First steps
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- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by comparing ctypes imports on Python 3.13 and 3.14 on Linux, using lsfd and /proc/self/fd as in the report. Trace the CPython commit history for the change that makes libffi appear as a regular file descriptor, then determine its rationale and whether the behavior requires a regression fix or release-note documentation. Done means the change and reasoning are clearly identified and verified.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- operating-systems
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 52/100