Unsoundly accepts generic function with generic mutable default parameter

Mypy unsoundly accepts a generic function with a generic mutable default parameter value. This value is evaluated once at runtime, but can be referred to with multiple incompatible types, breaking type safety.

from typing import TypeVar

T = TypeVar("T")

def f(x: T, y: list[T] = []) -> list[T]:
    return y

y_strs: list[str] = f("a")
y_ints: list[int] = f(4)
# Uh oh, y_strs and y_ints refer to the same list with incompatible types
y_strs.append("b")
print(y_ints[0] + 6)  # oops

mypy Playground link

(This is a sort of converse to #3737, where the complaint is that mypy fails to accept a generic function with a non-generic default parameter value. It further supports my claim that default parameter values should not be generalized to the generic type of the parameter at function definition time.)

Related:

• #11538
• #11585
• #3737

Start with the linked mypy Playground reproduction and compare it with related issues #3737, #11538, and #11585. Determine the expected treatment of generic mutable default parameters, then add coverage showing that the reported incompatible list aliases are not accepted while preserving the intended behavior for non-generic defaults.