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classification
Title: store thread.get_ident() thread identifier inside threading.Thread objects
Type: enhancement Stage:
Components: Extension Modules Versions:
process
Status: closed Resolution: fixed
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: gregory.p.smith Nosy List: gregory.p.smith, irmen, pitrou
Priority: normal Keywords: patch

Created on 2008-05-15 21:49 by irmen, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Messages (7)
msg66882 - (view) Author: Irmen de Jong (irmen) (Python triager) Date: 2008-05-15 21:49
I've ran into a problem where it would be very nice to be able to tell
the tread.get_ident() of a given threading.Thread object.

Currently, when creating a new Thread object, there is no good way of
getting that thread's get_ident() value. 

I propose adding the get_ident() value as a publicly accessible field of
every threading.Thread object.
msg67248 - (view) Author: Antoine Pitrou (pitrou) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-05-23 15:29
> Currently, when creating a new Thread object, there is no good way of
> getting that thread's get_ident() value. 

Well, how about doing it at the beginning of its run() method, e.g. in a
Thread subclass:

    class MyThread(threading.Thread):
        def run(self):
            self.thread_ident = thread.get_ident()
            threading.Thread.run(self) # or any other stuff


Also, I don't think get_ident() is often useful when using the Threading
module, since you can just use the id() of the current Thread object
instead.
msg67274 - (view) Author: Irmen de Jong (irmen) (Python triager) Date: 2008-05-23 23:26
Adding it in the run method would only work for threads that I create in
my own code. The thing is: I need to be able to get the tread
identification from threads created by third party code. So I cannot
rely on that code putting it in the thread object themselves like that.
Hence my wish of letting the standard library module take care of it.

And using the id() of the current thread object has a rather obscure
problem. I was using it as a matter of fact, until people reported
problems in my code when used with certain atexit handling. (Sometimes
the wrong id() is returned). Because of that I wanted to switch to the
more low-level thread.get_ident() identification of different threads,
because that is supposed to return a stable os-level thread
identification, right?
msg67310 - (view) Author: Antoine Pitrou (pitrou) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-05-24 22:20
Well, it's true that get_ident() will always give you a reliable number
while currentThread() can play dirty games on you at shutdown. The thing
is the Thread object is dereferenced before the OS thread actually
terminates, so it may be that a Python callback is called by some C code
in those last moments and gets the wrong answer from currentThread()
(because currentThread() returns a new dummy thread when it can't find a
Thread object corresponding to the get_ident() value).

So finally your request sounds quite reasonable :-)
msg67312 - (view) Author: Gregory P. Smith (gregory.p.smith) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-05-24 22:47
This seems like a useful addition and is easy enough.

Patch with tests and documentation attached.  Unless I hear objections I
will commit it to trunk later this week.

Patch available for review here:  http://codereview.appspot.com/1301
msg67314 - (view) Author: Irmen de Jong (irmen) (Python triager) Date: 2008-05-24 23:40
Thanks Gregory, for taking the time to make a patch.
msg67619 - (view) Author: Gregory P. Smith (gregory.p.smith) * (Python committer) Date: 2008-06-01 23:49
committed to trunk r63882 for inclusion in 2.6.
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:56:34adminsetgithub: 47120
2008-06-01 23:50:16gregory.p.smithsetstatus: open -> closed
2008-06-01 23:49:38gregory.p.smithsetresolution: fixed
messages: + msg67619
2008-05-24 23:40:29irmensetmessages: + msg67314
2008-05-24 22:47:53gregory.p.smithsetpriority: normal
assignee: gregory.p.smith
messages: + msg67312
keywords: + patch
nosy: + gregory.p.smith
2008-05-24 22:21:53pitrousetmessages: + msg67310
2008-05-23 23:26:46irmensetmessages: + msg67274
2008-05-23 15:29:44pitrousetnosy: + pitrou
messages: + msg67248
2008-05-15 21:49:54irmencreate