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gh-132346: Docs: Clarify that reference counts aren't stable between versions #132352

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Jul 13, 2025
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gh-132346: Docs: Clarify that reference counts aren't stable between versions #132352

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80f3fc3
Docs: Clarify that reference counts aren't stable between versions
ZeroIntensity Apr 10, 2025
3cc01bb
Reword and reformat a little.
ZeroIntensity Apr 11, 2025
3403bce
Remove last line
ZeroIntensity Jul 13, 2025
0fcb37a
Merge branch 'main' into clarify-reference-count
ZeroIntensity Jul 13, 2025
48b7662
Fix trailing whitespace.
ZeroIntensity Jul 13, 2025
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6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions Doc/glossary.rst
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Expand Up @@ -1202,6 +1202,12 @@ Glossary
:func:`sys.getrefcount` function to return the
reference count for a particular object.

In :term:`CPython`, reference counts are not considered to be stable
or well-defined values; the number of references to an object, and how
that number is affected by Python code, may be different between
versions. Consequently, don't rely on an object's reference count to be
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The last line is not true anymore with free-threading and interpreter skipping ref on temporaries, I suggest to remove the last line.

a value other than 0 or 1.

regular package
A traditional :term:`package`, such as a directory containing an
``__init__.py`` file.
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