First version of the patch. Review 0ee4386d8f51.diff http://bugs.python.org/file23526/0ee4386d8f51.diff

Details:

1. Current code aliases "devpoll" in platforms with "/dev/poll" (Solaris and derivatives). Considering all the other points, I think that providing a separate "select.devpoll" object would be a better idea. Opinions?.

2. I am not providing the exception contract documented in "select.poll". For instance, "poll.unregister" of a "fd" not previously registered doesn't raise an exception. Idem "poll.modify", etc. I could do it, but is pointless extra code.

3. I have added a boolean "select.isdevpoll" to indicate if "selec.poll" uses "poll()" or "/dev/poll". Ugly.

4. I release the GIL when waiting for the fds, but not when registering/unregistering fds, etc. I guess that the syscall would be very fast, but I haven't actually measure it.

5. The internal REMOVE is because if you "register" several times the same fd, the events are ORed. To avoid that I do an internal REMOVE first. I should scan the pollfds internally and update the events inplace. Or provide a separate "devpoll" and document this fact...

6. If the number of active fds is bigger that SIZE_DEVPOLL, only SIZE_DEVPOLL fds are returned. If you "poll" several times, you get the SAME fds, if they are still active. So, others active fds can suffer of starvation. Solutions: selftunning (if the module provide 20 slots and the OS provide 20 active fds, call again with 40 free slots, etc) or provide a separate "devpoll" and document this fact, posibly providing a "maxsize" parameter. "select.epoll" uses FD_SETSIZE, directly.

With this, I am starting to think that providing a separate "select.devpoll" is actually a better idea.

Opinions?.