Meta issue: better `getattr` support

Feature

One thing that bothered me for a long time is getattr and its very broad return type even for simplest cases:

from typing import Literal

class Some:
    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.a = 1

s = Some()

reveal_type(s.a)  # Revealed type is "builtins.int"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'a'))  # Revealed type is "Any"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'b'))  # Revealed type is "Any"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'a', None))  # Revealed type is "Union[Any, None]"

a: Literal['a']
reveal_type(getattr(s, a))  # Revealed type is "Any"

ab: Literal['a', 'b']
reveal_type(getattr(s, ab))  # Revealed type is "Any"

So, I propose to add better support for it to mypy.

The same example, after the support is added:

from typing import Literal

class Some:
    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.a = 1

s = Some()

reveal_type(s.a)  # Revealed type is "builtins.int"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'a'))  # Revealed type is "builtins.int"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'b'))  # error: "Some" has no attribute "b"
reveal_type(getattr(s, 'a', None))  # Revealed type is "builtins.int"

a: Literal['a']
reveal_type(getattr(s, a))  # Revealed type is "builtins.int"

ab: Literal['a', 'b']
reveal_type(getattr(s, ab))  # error: "Some" has no attribute "b"
reveal_type(getattr(s, ab, None))  # Revealed type is "builtins.int | None"

I have even written a custom plugin for it at some point.

Why?

This pattern is quite popular among Python developers. geattr(obj, 'string_key', None) is used for compatibility, optional dependencies, etc. That's something you can find in almost any project.

Technical details

I am going to utilize existing checkmember logic.
I even plan to support attribute plugins, where possible, because a.x and getattr(a, 'x') are semantically identical.
For now only str literals and Literal str types are going to be supported.

Related issues and problems

I am calling this issue "meta", because there are several very related problems I want to mention / solve here:

• https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/1424
• https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/10409

Next steps

I will start with a PR with a code prototype in a couple of days.

Start by reading the existing checkmember logic referenced in the issue and review related issues 1424 and 10409. Compare the requested getattr examples, including string and Literal names and default values, and use the stated reveal_type results and missing-attribute errors as the completion criteria.