Maybe a note could be added to https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#exec

Something along the lines of:

Note: If exec gets two separate objects as `globals` and `locals`, the code will not be executed as if it were embedded in a function definition. For example, any function or comprehension defined at the top level will not have access to the `locals` scope.

PS: It would be nice for my usecase to have a way around this, maybe a flag in `compile` or `exec` that would produce "function code" instead of "module code". My workaround for this problem consist in wrapping my code in a function definition.

I think this means https://bugs.python.org/issue41918 should be closed as well?