Improve error messages for invalid `shelve` datum
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Description
Feature or enhancement
Proposal:
In https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/137829, I got confused because of the following:
import shelve
import dbm.gnu
db = dbm.gnu.open("myshelf", "c")
db.close()
def serializer(obj, protocol=None):
pass
def deserializer(data):
return data.decode("utf-8")
with shelve.open("myshelf", serializer=serializer, deserializer=deserializer) as s:
s["foo"] = "bar"
The traceback is
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/arf/Desktop/source-codes/cpython/repro.py", line 17, in <module>
s["foo"] = "bar"
~^^^^^^^
File "/home/arf/Desktop/source-codes/cpython/Lib/shelve.py", line 138, in __setitem__
self.dict[key.encode(self.keyencoding)] = serialized_value
~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TypeError: gdbm mappings have bytes or string indices only
I got confused because I thought that the issue stemmed from the key (because of the word "indices") but the error is raised due to the serialized_value type as serializer returns None. IOW, s["foo"] = "bar" above is equivalent to s["foo"] = None. I suggest:
- changing the error message when the value type is incorrect (namely, don't talk about "indices"). Ideally, we should use "key" and "value" to distinguish the messages.
- add some "must be [...], not [...]" with the input type.
cc @furkanonder
Has this already been discussed elsewhere?
This is a minor feature, which does not need previous discussion elsewhere
Links to previous discussion of this feature:
No response
Linked PRs
- gh-138768
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/shelve.py at line 138 and reproduce the supplied shelve/dbm.gnu example to trace why an invalid serialized value produces the misleading error. Update the reported wording to distinguish keys from values and include the received type; done means the example clearly identifies the invalid value.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- databases
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100