@@ -2463,12 +2463,20 @@ per-object locks for :term:`free-threaded <free threading>` CPython. They are
24632463intended to replace reliance on the :term:`global interpreter lock`, and are
24642464no-ops in versions of Python with the global interpreter lock.
24652465
2466+ Critical sections are intended to be used for custom types implemented
2467+ in C-API extensions. They should generally not be used with built-in types like
2468+ :class:`list` and :class:`dict` because their public C-APIs
2469+ already use critical sections internally, with the notable
2470+ exception of :c:func:`PyDict_Next`, which requires critical section
2471+ to be acquired externally.
2472+
24662473Critical sections avoid deadlocks by implicitly suspending active critical
2467- sections and releasing the locks during calls to :c:func:`PyEval_SaveThread`.
2468- When :c:func:`PyEval_RestoreThread` is called, the most recent critical section
2469- is resumed, and its locks reacquired. This means the critical section API
2470- provides weaker guarantees than traditional locks -- they are useful because
2471- their behavior is similar to the :term:`GIL`.
2474+ sections, hence, they do not provide exclusive access such as provided by
2475+ traditional locks like :c:type:`PyMutex`. When a critical section is started,
2476+ the per-object lock for the object is acquired. If the code executed inside the
2477+ critical section calls C-API functions then it can suspend the critical section thereby
2478+ releasing the per-object lock, so other threads can acquire the per-object lock
2479+ for the same object.
24722480
24732481Variants that accept :c:type:`PyMutex` pointers rather than Python objects are also
24742482available. Use these variants to start a critical section in a situation where
0 commit comments