python-peps/pep-0432.txt

PEP: 432
Title: Simplifying the CPython startup sequence
Version: $Revision$
Last-Modified: $Date$
Author: Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan@gmail.com>
Status: Draft
Type: Standards Track
Content-Type: text/x-rst
Created: 28-Dec-2012
Python-Version: 3.4
Post-History: 28-Dec-2012


Abstract
========

This PEP proposes a mechanism for simplifying the startup sequence for
CPython, making it easier to modify the initialization behaviour of the
reference interpreter executable, as well as making it easier to control
CPython's startup behaviour when creating an alternate executable or
embedding it as a Python execution engine inside a larger application.

Note: TBC = To Be Confirmed, TBD = To Be Determined. The appropriate
resolution for most of these should become clearer as the reference
implementation is developed.


Proposal
========

This PEP proposes that CPython move to an explicit multi-phase initialization
process, where a preliminary interpreter is put in place with limited OS
interaction capabilities early in the startup sequence. This essential core
remains in place while all of the configuration settings are determined,
until a final configuration call takes those settings and finishes
bootstrapping the interpreter immediately before locating and executing
the main module.

In the new design, the interpreter will move through the following
well-defined phases during the startup sequence:

* Pre-Initialization - no interpreter available
* Initialization - limited interpreter available
* Pre-Main - full interpreter available, __main__ related metadata incomplete
* Main Execution - normal interpreter operation

As a concrete use case to help guide any design changes, and to solve a known
problem where the appropriate defaults for system utilities differ from those
for running user scripts, this PEP also proposes the creation and
distribution of a separate system Python (``spython``) executable which, by
default, ignores user site directories and environment variables, and does
not implicitly set ``sys.path[0]`` based on the current directory or the
script being executed.

To keep the implementation complexity under control, this PEP does *not*
propose wholesale changes to the way the interpreter state is accessed at
runtime, nor does it propose changes to the way subinterpreters are
created after the main interpreter has already been initialized. Changing
the order in which the existing initialization steps occur in order to make
the startup sequence easier to maintain is already a substantial change, and
attempting to make those other changes at the same time will make the
change significantly more invasive and much harder to review. However, such
proposals may be suitable topics for follow-on PEPs or patches - one key
benefit of this PEP is decreasing the coupling between the internal storage
model and the configuration interface, so such changes should be easier
once this PEP has been implemented.


Background
==========

Over time, CPython's initialization sequence has become progressively more
complicated, offering more options, as well as performing more complex tasks
(such as configuring the Unicode settings for OS interfaces in Python 3 as
well as bootstrapping a pure Python implementation of the import system).

Much of this complexity is accessible only through the ``Py_Main`` and
``Py_Initialize`` APIs, offering embedding applications little opportunity
for customisation. This creeping complexity also makes life difficult for
maintainers, as much of the configuration needs to take place prior to the
``Py_Initialize`` call, meaning much of the Python C API cannot be used
safely.

A number of proposals are on the table for even *more* sophisticated
startup behaviour, such as better control over ``sys.path`` initialization
(easily adding additional directories on the command line in a cross-platform
fashion, as well as controlling the configuration of ``sys.path[0]``), easier
configuration of utilities like coverage tracing when launching Python
subprocesses, and easier control of the encoding used for the standard IO
streams when embedding CPython in a larger application.

Rather than attempting to bolt such behaviour onto an already complicated
system, this PEP proposes to instead simplify the status quo *first*, with
the aim of making these further feature requests easier to implement.


Key Concerns
============

There are a couple of key concerns that any change to the startup sequence
needs to take into account.


Maintainability
---------------

The current CPython startup sequence is difficult to understand, and even
more difficult to modify. It is not clear what state the interpreter is in
while much of the initialization code executes, leading to behaviour such
as lists, dictionaries and Unicode values being created prior to the call
to ``Py_Initialize`` when the ``-X`` or ``-W`` options are used [1_].

By moving to an explicitly multi-phase startup sequence, developers should
only need to understand which features are not available in the core
bootstrapping state, as the vast majority of the configuration process
will now take place in that state.

By basing the new design on a combination of C structures and Python
dictionaries, it should also be easier to modify the system in the
future to add new configuration options.


Performance
-----------

CPython is used heavily to run short scripts where the runtime is dominated
by the interpreter initialization time. Any changes to the startup sequence
should minimise their impact on the startup overhead.

Experience with the importlib migration suggests that the startup time is
dominated by IO operations. However, to monitor the impact of any changes,
a simple benchmark can be used to check how long it takes to start and then
tear down the interpreter::

   python3 -m timeit -s "from subprocess import call" "call(['./python', '-c', 'pass'])"

Current numbers on my system for 2.7, 3.2 and 3.3 (using the 3.3
subprocess and timeit modules to execute the check, all with non-debug
builds)::

    # Python 2.7
    $ py33/python -m timeit -s "from subprocess import call" "call(['py27/python', '-c', 'pass'])"
    100 loops, best of 3: 17.8 msec per loop
    # Python 3.2
    $ py33/python -m timeit -s "from subprocess import call" "call(['py32/python', '-c', 'pass'])"
    10 loops, best of 3: 39 msec per loop
    # Python 3.3
    $ py33/python -m timeit -s "from subprocess import call" "call(['py33/python', '-c', 'pass'])"
    10 loops, best of 3: 25.3 msec per loop

Improvements in the import system and the Unicode support already resulted
in a more than 30% improvement in startup time in Python 3.3 relative to
3.2. Python 3.3 is still slightly slower to start than Python 2.7 due to the
additional infrastructure that needs to be put in place to support the
Unicode based text model.

This PEP is not expected to have any significant effect on the startup time,
as it is aimed primarily at *reordering* the existing initialization
sequence, without making substantial changes to the individual steps.

However, if this simple check suggests that the proposed changes to the
initialization sequence may pose a performance problem, then a more
sophisticated microbenchmark will be developed to assist in investigation.


Required Configuration Settings
===============================

A comprehensive configuration scheme requires that an embedding application
be able to control the following aspects of the final interpreter state:

* Whether or not to use randomised hashes (and if used, potentially specify
  a specific random seed)
* The "Where is Python located?" elements in the ``sys`` module:
  * ``sys.executable``
  * ``sys.base_exec_prefix``
  * ``sys.base_prefix``
  * ``sys.exec_prefix``
  * ``sys.prefix``
* The path searched for imports from the filesystem (and other path hooks):
  * ``sys.path``
* The command line arguments seen by the interpeter:
  * ``sys.argv``
* The filesystem encoding used by:
  * ``sys.getfsencoding``
  * ``os.fsencode``
  * ``os.fsdecode``
* The IO encoding (if any) and the buffering used by:
  * ``sys.stdin``
  * ``sys.stdout``
  * ``sys.stderr``
* The initial warning system state:
  * ``sys.warnoptions``
* Arbitrary extended options (e.g. to automatically enable ``faulthandler``):
  * ``sys._xoptions``
* Whether or not to implicitly cache bytecode files:
  * ``sys.dont_write_bytecode``
* Whether or not to enforce correct case in filenames on case-insensitive
  platforms
  * ``os.environ["PYTHONCASEOK"]``
* The other settings exposed to Python code in ``sys.flags``:

  * ``debug`` (Enable debugging output in the pgen parser)
  * ``inspect`` (Enter interactive interpreter after __main__ terminates)
  * ``interactive`` (Treat stdin as a tty)
  * ``optimize`` (__debug__ status, write .pyc or .pyo, strip doc strings)
  * ``no_user_site`` (don't add the user site directory to sys.path)
  * ``no_site`` (don't implicitly import site during startup)
  * ``ignore_environment`` (whether environment vars are used during config)
  * ``verbose`` (enable all sorts of random output)
  * ``bytes_warning`` (warnings/errors for implicit str/bytes interaction)
  * ``quiet`` (disable banner output even if verbose is also enabled or
    stdin is a tty and the interpreter is launched in interactive mode)

* Whether or not CPython's signal handlers should be installed
* What code (if any) should be executed as ``__main__``:

  * Nothing (just create an empty module)
  * A filesystem path referring to a Python script (source or bytecode)
  * A filesystem path referring to a valid ``sys.path`` entry (typically
    a directory or zipfile)
  * A given string (equivalent to the "-c" option)
  * A module or package (equivalent to the "-m" option)
  * Standard input as a script (i.e. a non-interactive stream)
  * Standard input as an interactive interpreter session

<TBD: Did I miss anything?>

Note that this just covers settings that are currently configurable in some
manner when using the main CPython executable. While this PEP aims to make
adding additional configuration settings easier in the future, it
deliberately avoids adding any new settings of its own.


The Status Quo
==============

The current mechanisms for configuring the interpreter have accumulated in
a fairly ad hoc fashion over the past 20+ years, leading to a rather
inconsistent interface with varying levels of documentation.

(Note: some of the info below could probably be cleaned up and added to the
C API documentation - it's all CPython specific, so it doesn't belong in
the language reference)


Ignoring Environment Variables
------------------------------

The ``-E`` command line option allows all environment variables to be
ignored when initializing the Python interpreter. An embedding application
can enable this behaviour by setting ``Py_IgnoreEnvironmentFlag`` before
calling ``Py_Initialize()``.

In the CPython source code, the ``Py_GETENV`` macro implicitly checks this
flag, and always produces ``NULL`` if it is set.

<TBD: I believe PYTHONCASEOK is checked regardless of this setting >
<TBD: Does -E also ignore Windows registry keys? >


Randomised Hashing
------------------

The randomised hashing is controlled via the ``-R`` command line option (in
releases prior to 3.3), as well as the ``PYTHONHASHSEED`` environment
variable.

In Python 3.3, only the environment variable remains relevant. It can be
used to disable randomised hashing (by using a seed value of 0) or else
to force a specific hash value (e.g. for repeatability of testing, or
to share hash values between processes)

However, embedding applications must use the ``Py_HashRandomizationFlag``
to explicitly request hash randomisation (CPython sets it in ``Py_Main()``
rather than in ``Py_Initialize()``).

The new configuration API should make it straightforward for an
embedding application to reuse the ``PYTHONHASHSEED`` processing with
a text based configuration setting provided by other means (e.g. a
config file or separate environment variable).


Locating Python and the standard library
----------------------------------------

The location of the Python binary and the standard library is influenced
by several elements. The algorithm used to perform the calculation is
not documented anywhere other than in the source code [3_,4_]. Even that
description is incomplete, as it failed to be updated for the virtual
environment support added in Python 3.3 (detailed in PEP 420).

These calculations are affected by the following function calls (made
prior to calling ``Py_Initialize()``) and environment variables:

* ``Py_SetProgramName()``
* ``Py_SetPythonHome()``
* ``PYTHONHOME``

The filesystem is also inspected for ``pyvenv.cfg`` files (see PEP 420) or,
failing that, a ``lib/os.py`` (Windows) or ``lib/python$VERSION/os.py``
file.

The build time settings for PREFIX and EXEC_PREFIX are also relevant,
as are some registry settings on Windows. The hardcoded fallbacks are
based on the layout of the CPython source tree and build output when
working in a source checkout.


Configuring ``sys.path``
------------------------

An embedding application may call ``Py_SetPath()`` prior to
``Py_Initialize()`` to completely override the calculation of
``sys.path``. It is not straightforward to only allow *some* of the
calculations, as modifying ``sys.path`` after initialization is
already complete means those modifications will not be in effect
when standard library modules are imported during the startup sequence.

If ``Py_SetPath()`` is not used prior to the first call to ``Py_GetPath()``
(implicit in ``Py_Initialize()``), then it builds on the location data
calculations above to calculate suitable path entries, along with
the ``PYTHONPATH`` environment variable.

<TBD: On Windows, there's also a bunch of stuff to do with the registry>

The ``site`` module, which is implicitly imported at startup (unless
disabled via the ``-S`` option) adds additional paths to this initial
set of paths, as described in its documentation [5_].

The ``-s`` command line option can be used to exclude the user site
directory from the list of directories added. Embedding applications
can control this by setting the ``Py_NoUserSiteDirectory`` global variable.

The following commands can be used to check the default path configurations
for a given Python executable on a given system:

* ``./python -c "import sys, pprint; pprint.pprint(sys.path)"``
  - standard configuration
* ``./python -s -c "import sys, pprint; pprint.pprint(sys.path)"``
  - user site directory disabled
* ``./python -S -c "import sys, pprint; pprint.pprint(sys.path)"``
  - all site path modifications disabled

(Note: you can see similar information using ``-m site`` instead of ``-c``,
but this is slightly misleading as it calls ``os.abspath`` on all of the
path entries, making relative path entries look absolute. Using the ``site``
module also causes problems in the last case, as on Python versions prior to
3.3, explicitly importing site will carry out the path modifications ``-S``
avoids, while on 3.3+ combining ``-m site`` with ``-S`` currently fails)

The calculation of ``sys.path[0]`` is comparatively straightforward:

* For an ordinary script (Python source or compiled bytecode),
  ``sys.path[0]`` will be the directory containing the script.
* For a valid ``sys.path`` entry (typically a zipfile or directory),
  ``sys.path[0]`` will be that path
* For an interactive session, running from stdin or when using the ``-c`` or
  ``-m`` switches, ``sys.path[0]`` will be the empty string, which the import
  system interprets as allowing imports from the current directory


Configuring ``sys.argv``
------------------------

Unlike most other settings discussed in this PEP, ``sys.argv`` is not
set implicitly by ``Py_Initialize()``. Instead, it must be set via an
explicitly call to ``Py_SetArgv()``.

CPython calls this in ``Py_Main()`` after calling ``Py_Initialize()``. The
calculation of ``sys.argv[1:]`` is straightforward: they're the command line
arguments passed after the script name or the argument to the ``-c`` or
``-m`` options.

The calculation of ``sys.argv[0]`` is a little more complicated:

* For an ordinary script (source or bytecode), it will be the script name
* For a ``sys.path`` entry (typically a zipfile or directory) it will
  initially be the zipfile or directory name, but will later be changed by
  the ``runpy`` module to the full path to the imported ``__main__`` module.
* For a module specified with the ``-m`` switch, it will initially be the
  string ``"-m"``, but will later be changed by the ``runpy`` module to the
  full path to the executed module.
* For a package specified with the ``-m`` switch, it will initially be the
  string ``"-m"``, but will later be changed by the ``runpy`` module to the
  full path to the executed ``__main__`` submodule of the package.
* For a command executed with ``-c``, it will be the string ``"-c"``
* For explicitly requested input from stdin, it will be the string ``"-"``
* Otherwise, it will be the empty string

Embedding applications must call Py_SetArgv themselves. The CPython logic
for doing so is part of ``Py_Main()`` and is not exposed separately.
However, the ``runpy`` module does provide roughly equivalent logic in
``runpy.run_module`` and ``runpy.run_path``.



Other configuration settings
----------------------------

TBD: Cover the initialization of the following in more detail:

* The initial warning system state:
  * ``sys.warnoptions``
  * (-W option, PYTHONWARNINGS)
* Arbitrary extended options (e.g. to automatically enable ``faulthandler``):
  * ``sys._xoptions``
  * (-X option)
* The filesystem encoding used by:
  * ``sys.getfsencoding``
  * ``os.fsencode``
  * ``os.fsdecode``
* The IO encoding and buffering used by:
  * ``sys.stdin``
  * ``sys.stdout``
  * ``sys.stderr``
  * (-u option, PYTHONIOENCODING, PYTHONUNBUFFEREDIO)
* Whether or not to implicitly cache bytecode files:
  * ``sys.dont_write_bytecode``
  * (-B option, PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE)
* Whether or not to enforce correct case in filenames on case-insensitive
  platforms
  * ``os.environ["PYTHONCASEOK"]``
* The other settings exposed to Python code in ``sys.flags``:

  * ``debug`` (Enable debugging output in the pgen parser)
  * ``inspect`` (Enter interactive interpreter after __main__ terminates)
  * ``interactive`` (Treat stdin as a tty)
  * ``optimize`` (__debug__ status, write .pyc or .pyo, strip doc strings)
  * ``no_user_site`` (don't add the user site directory to sys.path)
  * ``no_site`` (don't implicitly import site during startup)
  * ``ignore_environment`` (whether environment vars are used during config)
  * ``verbose`` (enable all sorts of random output)
  * ``bytes_warning`` (warnings/errors for implicit str/bytes interaction)
  * ``quiet`` (disable banner output even if verbose is also enabled or
    stdin is a tty and the interpreter is launched in interactive mode)

* Whether or not CPython's signal handlers should be installed

Much of the configuration of CPython is currently handled through C level
global variables::

    Py_BytesWarningFlag (-b)
    Py_DebugFlag (-d option)
    Py_InspectFlag (-i option, PYTHONINSPECT)
    Py_InteractiveFlag (property of stdin, cannot be overridden)
    Py_OptimizeFlag (-O option, PYTHONOPTIMIZE)
    Py_DontWriteBytecodeFlag (-B option, PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE)
    Py_NoUserSiteDirectory (-s option, PYTHONNOUSERSITE)
    Py_NoSiteFlag (-S option)
    Py_UnbufferedStdioFlag (-u, PYTHONUNBUFFEREDIO)
    Py_VerboseFlag (-v option, PYTHONVERBOSE)

For the above variables, the conversion of command line options and
environment variables to C global variables is handled by ``Py_Main``,
so each embedding application must set those appropriately in order to
change them from their defaults.

Some configuration can only be provided as OS level environment variables::

    PYTHONSTARTUP
    PYTHONCASEOK
    PYTHONIOENCODING

The ``Py_InitializeEx()`` API also accepts a boolean flag to indicate
whether or not CPython's signal handlers should be installed.

Finally, some interactive behaviour (such as printing the introductory
banner) is triggered only when standard input is reported as a terminal
connection by the operating system.

TBD: Document how the "-x" option is handled (skips processing of the
first comment line in the main script)

Also see detailed sequence of operations notes at [1_]


Design Details
==============

(Note: details here are still very much in flux, but preliminary feedback
is appreciated anyway)

The main theme of this proposal is to create the interpreter state for
the main interpreter *much* earlier in the startup process. This will allow
most of the CPython API to be used during the remainder of the initialization
process, potentially simplifying a number of operations that currently need
to rely on basic C functionality rather than being able to use the richer
data structures provided by the CPython C API.

In the following, the term "embedding application" also covers the standard
CPython command line application.


Startup Phases
--------------

Four distinct phases are proposed:

* Pre-Initialization: no interpreter is available. Embedding application
  determines the settings required to create the core interpreter and
  moves to the next phase by calling ``Py_BeginInitialization``.
* Initialization - a limited interpreter is available. Embedding application
  determines and applies the settings required to complete the initialization
  process by calling ``Py_ReadConfiguration`` and ``Py_EndInitialization``.
* Pre-Main - the full interpreter is available, but ``__main__`` related
  metadata is incomplete.
* Main Execution - normal interpreter operation

All 4 phases will be used by the standard CPython interpreter and the
proposed System Python interpreter. Other embedding applications may
choose to skip the step of executing code in the ``__main__`` module.

Pre-Initialization Phase
------------------------

The pre-initialization phase is where an embedding application determines
the settings which are absolutely required before the interpreter can be
initialized at all. Currently, the only configuration settings in this
category are those related to the randomised hash algorithm - the hash
algorithms must be consistent for the lifetime of the process, and so they
must be in place before the core interpreter is created.

The specific settings needed are a flag indicating whether or not to use a
specific seed value for the randomised hashes, and if so, the specific value
for the seed (a seed value of zero disables randomised hashing). In addition,
the question of whether or not to consider environment variables must be
addressed early.

The proposed API for this step in the startup sequence is::

    void Py_BeginInitialization(Py_CoreConfig *config);

Like Py_Initialize, this part of the new API treats initialization failures
as fatal errors. While that's still not particularly embedding friendly,
the operations in this step *really* shouldn't be failing, and changing them
to return error codes instead of aborting would be an even larger task than
the one already being proposed.

The new Py_CoreConfig struct holds the settings required for preliminary
configuration::

    typedef struct {
        int ignore_environment;
        int use_hash_seed;
        unsigned long hash_seed;
    } Py_CoreConfig;

The core configuration settings pointer may be ``NULL``, in which case the
default values are ``ignore_environment = 0`` and ``use_hash_seed = -1``.

``ignore_environment`` controls the processing of all Python related
environment variables. If the flag is zero, then environment variables are
processed normally. Otherwise, all Python-specific environment variables
are considered undefined (exceptions may be made for some OS specific
environment variables, such as those used on Mac OS X to communicate
between the App bundle and the main Python binary).

``use_hash_seed`` controls the configuration of the randomised hash
algorithm. If it is zero, then randomised hashes with a random seed will
be used. It it is positive, then the value in ``hash_seed`` will be used
to seed the random number generator. If the ``hash_seed`` is zero in this
case, then the randomised hashing is disabled completely.

If ``use_hash_seed`` is negative (and ``ignore_environment`` is zero),
then CPython will inspect the ``PYTHONHASHSEED`` environment variable. If it
is not set, is set to the empty string, or to the value ``"random"``, then
randomised hashes with a random seed will be used. If it is set to the string
``"0"`` the randomised hashing will be disabled. Otherwise, the hash seed is
expected to be a string representation of an integer in the range
``[0; 4294967295]``.

To make it easier for embedding applications to use the ``PYTHONHASHSEED``
processing with a different data source, the following helper function
will be added to the C API::

    int Py_ReadHashSeed(char *seed_text,
                        int *use_hash_seed,
                        unsigned long *hash_seed);

This function accepts a seed string in ``seed_text`` and converts it to
the appropriate flag and seed values. If ``seed_text`` is ``NULL``,
the empty string or the value ``"random"``, both ``use_hash_seed`` and
``hash_seed`` will be set to zero. Otherwise, ``use_hash_seed`` will be set to
``1`` and the seed text will be interpreted as an integer and reported as
``hash_seed``. On success the function will return zero. A non-zero return
value indicates an error (most likely in the conversion to an integer).

The aim is to keep this initial level of configuration as small as possible
in order to keep the bootstrapping environment consistent across
different embedding applications. If we can create a valid interpreter state
without the setting, then the setting should go in the config dict passed
to ``Py_EndInitialization()`` rather than in the core configuration.

A new query API will allow code to determine if the interpreter is in the
bootstrapping state between the creation of the interpreter state and the
completion of the bulk of the initialization process::

    int Py_IsInitializing();

Attempting to call ``Py_BeginInitialization()`` again when
``Py_IsInitializing()`` or ``Py_IsInitialized()`` is true is a fatal error.

While in the initializing state, the interpreter should be fully functional
except that:

* compilation is not allowed (as the parser and compiler are not yet
  configured properly)
* The following attributes in the ``sys`` module are all either missing or
  ``None``:
  * ``sys.path``
  * ``sys.argv``
  * ``sys.executable``
  * ``sys.base_exec_prefix``
  * ``sys.base_prefix``
  * ``sys.exec_prefix``
  * ``sys.prefix``
  * ``sys.warnoptions``
  * ``sys.flags``
  * ``sys.dont_write_bytecode``
  * ``sys.stdin``
  * ``sys.stdout``
* The filesystem encoding is not yet defined
* The IO encoding is not yet defined
* CPython signal handlers are not yet installed
* only builtin and frozen modules may be imported (due to above limitations)
* ``sys.stderr`` is set to a temporary IO object using unbuffered binary
  mode
* The ``warnings`` module is not yet initialized
* The ``__main__`` module does not yet exist

<TBD: identify any other notable missing functionality>

The main things made available by this step will be the core Python
datatypes, in particular dictionaries, lists and strings. This allows them
to be used safely for all of the remaining configuration steps (unlike the
status quo).

In addition, the current thread will possess a valid Python thread state,
allow any further configuration data to be stored on the interpreter object
rather than in C process globals.

Any call to Py_BeginInitialization() must have a matching call to
Py_Finalize(). It is acceptable to skip calling Py_EndInitialization() in
between (e.g. if attempting to read the configuration settings fails)


Determining the remaining configuration settings
------------------------------------------------

The next step in the initialization sequence is to determine the full
settings needed to complete the process. No changes are made to the
interpreter state at this point. The core API for this step is::

    int Py_ReadConfiguration(PyObject *config);

The config argument should be a pointer to a Python dictionary. For any
supported configuration setting already in the dictionary, CPython will
sanity check the supplied value, but otherwise accept it as correct.

Unlike Py_Initialize and Py_BeginInitialization, this call will raise an
exception and report an error return rather than exhibiting fatal errors if
a problem is found with the config data.

Any supported configuration setting which is not already set will be
populated appropriately. The default configuration can be overridden
entirely by setting the value *before* calling Py_ReadConfiguration. The
provided value will then also be used in calculating any settings derived
from that value.

Alternatively, settings may be overridden *after* the Py_ReadConfiguration
call (this can be useful if an embedding application wants to adjust
a setting rather than replace it completely, such as removing
``sys.path[0]``).


Supported configuration settings
--------------------------------

At least the following configuration settings will be supported::

    raw_argv (list of str, default = retrieved from OS APIs)

    argv (list of str, default = derived from raw_argv)
    warnoptions (list of str, default = derived from raw_argv and environment)
    xoptions (list of str, default = derived from raw_argv and environment)

    program_name (str, default = retrieved from OS APIs)
    executable (str, default = derived from program_name)
    home (str, default = complicated!)
    prefix (str, default = complicated!)
    exec_prefix (str, default = complicated!)
    base_prefix (str, default = complicated!)
    base_exec_prefix (str, default = complicated!)
    path (list of str, default = complicated!)

    io_encoding (str, default = derived from environment or OS APIs)
    fs_encoding (str, default = derived from OS APIs)

    skip_signal_handlers (boolean, default = derived from environment or False)
    ignore_environment (boolean, default = derived from environment or False)
    dont_write_bytecode (boolean, default = derived from environment or False)
    no_site (boolean, default = derived from environment or False)
    no_user_site (boolean, default = derived from environment or False)
    <TBD: at least more from sys.flags need to go here>


Completing the interpreter initialization
-----------------------------------------

The final step in the initialization process is to actually put the
configuration settings into effect and finish bootstrapping the interpreter
up to full operation::

    int Py_EndInitialization(PyObject *config);

Like Py_ReadConfiguration, this call will raise an exception and report an
error return rather than exhibiting fatal errors if a problem is found with
the config data.

All configuration settings are required - the configuration dictionary
should always be passed through ``Py_ReadConfiguration()`` to ensure it
is fully populated.

After a successful call, Py_IsInitializing() will be false, while
Py_IsInitialized() will become true. The caveats described above for the
interpreter during the initialization phase will no longer hold.

However, some metadata related to the ``__main__`` module may still be
incomplete:

* ``sys.argv[0]`` may not yet have its final value

  * it will be ``-m`` when executing a module or package with CPython
  * it will be the same as ``sys.path[0]`` rather than the location of
    the ``__main__`` module when executing a valid ``sys.path`` entry
    (typically a zipfile or directory)

* the metadata in the ``__main__`` module will still indicate it is a
  builtin module


Executing the main module
-------------------------

<TBD>

Initial thought is that hiding the various options behind a single API
would make that API too complicated, so 3 separate APIs is more likely::

    Py_RunPathAsMain
    Py_RunModuleAsMain
    Py_RunStreamAsMain


Internal Storage of Configuration Data
--------------------------------------

The interpreter state will be updated to include details of the configuration
settings supplied during initialization by extending the interpreter state
object with an embedded copy of the ``Py_CoreConfig`` struct and an
additional ``PyObject`` pointer to hold a reference to a copy of the
supplied configuration dictionary.

For debugging purposes, the copied configuration dictionary will be
exposed as ``sys._configuration``. It will include additional keys for
the fields in the ``Py_CoreConfig`` struct.

These are *snapshots* of the initial configuration settings. They are not
consulted by the interpreter during runtime.


Stable ABI
----------

All of the APIs proposed in this PEP are excluded from the stable ABI, as
embedding a Python interpreter involves a much higher degree of coupling
than merely writing an extension.


Backwards Compatibility
-----------------------

Backwards compatibility will be preserved primarily by ensuring that
Py_ReadConfiguration() interrogates all the previously defined configuration
settings stored in global variables and environment variables, and that
Py_EndInitialization() writes affected settings back to the relevant
locations.

One acknowledged incompatiblity is that some environment variables which
are currently read lazily may instead be read once during interpreter
initialization. As the PEP matures, these will be discussed in more detail
on a case by case basis. The environment variables which are currently
known to be looked up dynamically are:

* ``PYTHONCASEOK``: writing to ``os.environ['PYTHONCASEOK']`` will no longer
  dynamically alter the interpreter's handling of filename case differences
  on import (TBC)
* ``PYTHONINSPECT``: ``os.environ['PYTHONINSPECT']`` will still be checked
  after execution of the ``__main__`` module terminates

The ``Py_Initialize()`` style of initialization will continue to be
supported. It will use (at least some elements of) the new API
internally, but will continue to exhibit the same behaviour as it
does today, ensuring that ``sys.argv`` is not populated until a subsequent
``PySys_SetArgv`` call. All APIs that currently support being called
prior to ``Py_Initialize()`` will
continue to do so, and will also support being called prior to
``Py_BeginInitialization()``.

To minimise unnecessary code churn, and to ensure the backwards compatibility
is well tested, the main CPython executable may continue to use some elements
of the old style initialization API. (very much TBC)


A System Python Executable
==========================

When executing system utilities with administrative access to a system, many
of the default behaviours of CPython are undesirable, as they may allow
untrusted code to execute with elevated privileges. The most problematic
aspects are the fact that user site directories are enabled,
environment variables are trusted and that the directory containing the
executed file is placed at the beginning of the import path.

Currently, providing a separate executable with different default behaviour
would be prohibitively hard to maintain. One of the goals of this PEP is to
make it possible to replace much of the hard to maintain bootstrapping code
with more normal CPython code, as well as making it easier for a separate
application to make use of key components of ``Py_Main``. Including this
change in the PEP is designed to help avoid acceptance of a design that
sounds good in theory but proves to be problematic in practice.

Better supporting this kind of "alternate CLI" is the main reason for the
proposed changes to better expose the core logic for deciding between the
different execution modes supported by CPython:

* script execution
* directory/zipfile execution
* command execution ("-c" switch)
* module or package execution ("-m" switch)
* execution from stdin (non-interactive)
* interactive stdin


Implementation
==============

None as yet. Once I have a reasonably solid plan of attack, I intend to work
on a reference implementation as a feature branch in my BitBucket sandbox [2_]


References
==========

.. [1] CPython interpreter initialization notes
   (http://wiki.python.org/moin/CPythonInterpreterInitialization)

.. [2] BitBucket Sandbox
   (https://bitbucket.org/ncoghlan/cpython_sandbox)

.. [3] \*nix getpath implementation
   (http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/default/Modules/getpath.c)

.. [4] Windows getpath implementation
   (http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/default/PC/getpathp.c)

.. [5] Site module documentation
   (http://docs.python.org/3/library/site.html)

Copyright
===========
This document has been placed in the public domain.