When I ported gmpy to Python 3.x, I began to use
PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow frequently. I found the code to slightly faster
and cleaner than using PyLong_AsLong and checking for overflow. I had
several code fragments that looked like:

#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION == 2
    if(PyInt_Check(b)) {
        temp = PyInt_AS_LONG(b));
        Do stuff with temp.
    }
#endif
    if(PyLong_Check(b)) {
#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION == 3
        temp = PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow(b, &overflow);
        if(overflow) {
#else
        temp = PyLong_AsLong(b);
        if(PyErr_Occurred()) {
            PyErr_Clear();
#endif
            Convert b to an mpz.
        } else {
            Do stuff with temp.
        }
    }

I wanted to use the PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow method with Python 2.x so I
extracted the code for PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow, tweeked it to accept
either PyInt or PyLong, and called it PyIntOrLong_AsLongAndOverflow. I
also defined PyIntOrLong_Check.

The same code fragment now looks like:

    if(PyIntOrLong_Check(b)) {
        temp = PyIntOrLong_AsLongAndOverflow(b, &overflow);
        if(overflow) {
            Convert b to an mpz.
        } else {
            Do stuff with temp.
        }
    }

Is it possible to include a py3intcompat.c file with Python 2.7 that
provides this function (and possibly others) for extension authors to
include with their extension? A previous example is pymemcompat.h which
was made available in the Misc directory.

I'm specifically not in favor of adding it to the Python 2.7 API but
just in providing a file for extension authors to use. I've attached a
initial version that compiles successfully with Python 2.4+.

I'm willing to add additional functions, documentation, etc.

Attached py3intcompat.c

I'm specifically not in favor of adding it to the Python 2.7 API.

Out of curiosity, why not? It seems like a reasonable addition to me.

I'd continue to call it simply PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow, though. I note
that in 2.x, PyLong_AsLong accepts both ints and longs, so it wouldn't
seem unreasonable for PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow to do so too.

I don't want it to be a 2.7-only feature. I'm trying to maintain
compatibility with 2.4 and later for gmpy. I would be in favor with
adding it to 2.7 as long as we could still provide a standalone version
for earlier releases of Python.

I hadn't realized that PyLong_AsLong accepts PyInt also. Given that,
the name PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow is fine (and easier)!

I uploaded a patch to add PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow. It was made against
the 2.7a1 source. "make test", gmpy's test suite, and mpmath's test
suite all pass.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Uploaded a new version of py3intcompat.c. It should be save to include
with any version of Python, included 2.7 with PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow
added.

The file includes basic documentation on use.

Thanks for the patches!

I'll look at the 2.7 PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow patch, and (assuming it
looks good) apply it.

For the py3intcompat.c, it would be good to have some sort of consensus
about this; perhaps it should be discussed on python-dev. One problem is
deciding where to put the files---if there might eventually be many such
files, there should be a reasonable plan. Those files might also need to
be divided into helper files for 3-to-2 translation and for 2-to-3
translation.

The longobject.diff patch looks fine, modulo some whitespace nits. (Older
C source files use width-8 tabs for indentation.)

Are you interested in adding documentation and tests (the latter in the
test_capi module)?

One thing about the patch struck me as odd: the use of nb_int means that
PyLong_AsLongAndOverflow will happily accept floats, Decimal instances,
etc. Ideally, this would be nb_index instead, but I guess it has to stay
nb_int for now, for consistency with PyLong_AsLong. py3k also uses nb_int
here and in various other PyLong_As*** functions; I think these should be
changed, but that's another issue.

I will work on documentation and test case patches.

Per comments on python-dev, there doesn't appear to be interest in
distributing forward compatibility files. I will update the bug report
with a slightly revised version of py3intcompat.c and just leave it at that.

I uploaded a new consolidated diff that includes the original patch with
(hopefully) correct whitespace, some tests, and doc updates.

The test just verifies that overflow is set/cleared properly. Proper
conversions to long are already tested in test_capi. Let me know if I
should add more tests.

I couldn't find any tests for LongAndOverflow in 3.x.

Perfect---thank you! Applied to trunk in r76963. I tweaked the main
comment and docstring, wrapped a long line, and replaced two instances of
'*overflow = Py_SIZE(v) > 0 ? 1 : -1' with simply '*overflow = sign'. I
also expanded the test a bit to check for 1 and -1 *overflow values,
rather than just checking for nonzero *overflow.

I'll propagate your tests to py3k.

I fixed up py3k to be in sync with trunk, and added your tests (slightly
expanded) to py3k in r76971. Thanks!