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gh-96997: Clarify the contract of PyMem_SetAllocator() (GH-98977)
(cherry picked from commit c053284) Co-authored-by: Pablo Galindo Salgado <[email protected]>
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Doc/c-api/memory.rst

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@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ for the I/O buffer escapes completely the Python memory manager.
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Allocator Domains
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=================
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.. _allocator-domains:
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All allocating functions belong to one of three different "domains" (see also
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:c:type:`PyMemAllocatorDomain`). These domains represent different allocation
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strategies and are optimized for different purposes. The specific details on
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debug hooks on top on the new allocator.
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.. warning::
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:c:func:`PyMem_SetAllocator` does have the following contract:
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* It can be called after :c:func:`Py_PreInitialize` and before
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:c:func:`Py_InitializeFromConfig` to install a custom memory
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allocator. There are no restrictions over the installed allocator
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other than the ones imposed by the domain (for instance, the Raw
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Domain allows the allocator to be called without the GIL held). See
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:ref:`the section on allocator domains <allocator-domains>` for more
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information.
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* If called after Python has finish initializing (after
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:c:func:`Py_InitializeFromConfig` has been called) the allocator
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**must** wrap the existing allocator. Substituting the current
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allocator for some other arbitrary one is **not supported**.
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.. c:function:: void PyMem_SetupDebugHooks(void)
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Setup :ref:`debug hooks in the Python memory allocators <pymem-debug-hooks>`

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