Bound method refs don't compare equal. Should they?

[ned-pcs]

I'm writing a hierarchical state machine framework in Python for use in my Micropython projects.
This works fine in desktop Python3, but in Micropython (either the Unix or esp32 ports) it doesn't.
The problem is that references to the same bound method don't equal each other.

Here is a simple test program:

class A:
    def a(self):
        pass


a = A()

ref1 = a.a
ref2 = a.a
print("a.a: ", repr(a.a))
print("ref1: ", repr(ref1))
print("ref2: ", repr(ref2))

assert ref1 == ref2, "bound method refs should be equal"
assert ref1 == a.a, "bound method refs should be equal"

Here is the result when running from the Unix port of micropython:

% micropython  method_ref_bug.py
a.a:  <bound_method 7f31679a9480 <A object at 7f31679a93c0>.<function a at 0x7f31679a9400>>
ref1:  <bound_method 7f31679a93e0 <A object at 7f31679a93c0>.<function a at 0x7f31679a9400>>
ref2:  <bound_method 7f31679a9460 <A object at 7f31679a93c0>.<function a at 0x7f31679a9400>>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "method_ref_bug.py", line 14, in <module>
AssertionError: bound method refs should be equal

Is this a bug in Micropython?

[dlech]

See #5233