python / python/cpython

Expose `threading.Semaphore._value`

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stdlib type-feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Feature or enhancement

It would be useful to be able to access the value of threading.Semaphore._value as part of the public API of Semaphore, say via a get_value method.

Pitch

The value is useful for debugging and testing, helping users to understand the state and invariants of their code. There is also educational value in allowing users to see the internal state of a Semaphore, seeing as how it's an important concurrency primitive.

https://cs.github.com/?scopeName=All+repos&scope=&q=semaphore._value+language%3Apython# finds 68 uses of the exact phrase "semaphore._value" on Github, so I'm not alone in wanting access to this (although several of these are asyncio.locks.Semaphore).

Previous discussion

asyncio.locks.Semaphore has a locked method that exposes whether the value of the Semaphore is zero. It does appear that many of the uses are comparing the value to zero, so adding a locked method to threading.Semaphore would be sufficient for a lot of usage.

While writing this issue, I noticed that in 3.11, threading.Semaphore has its value printed in __repr__ (changed in #20534, the bpo mentions "expose their public states" as the rationale)

It looks like multiprocesing.Semaphore has an undocumented get_value method (although there is an issue about potentially removing it https://github.com/python/cpython/issues/84974 )

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with threading.Semaphore and its current repr behavior, then compare asyncio.locks.Semaphore.locked with multiprocessing.Semaphore.get_value. Determine whether the public API should expose the value or only its zero state, and consider the existing discussion and rationale before defining tests and documentation for the chosen interface.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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