help() appears to be broken; doesn't display __doc__ for class type when called as help(type) #57790

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1. christopherthemagnificent commented on Dec 11, 2011

   

   christopherthemagnificentmannequin

   on Dec 11, 2011

   MannequinAuthor

   More actions

   observe help(type) and type.__doc__ in Python 3.1:

   >>> help(type)
   Help on class type in module builtins:

   class type(object)
    |  type(object) -> the object's type
    |  type(name, bases, dict) -> a new type
    |  
    |  Methods defined here:
    |  
    |  __call__(...)
    |      x.__call__(...) <==> x(...)
    |  
    |  __delattr__(...)
    |      x.__delattr__('name') <==> del x.name
    |  
    |  __getattribute__(...)
    |      x.__getattribute__('name') <==> x.name
    |  
    |  __init__(...)
    |      x.__init__(...) initializes x; see x.__class__.__doc__ for signature
    |  
    |  __instancecheck__(...)
    |      __instancecheck__() -> check if an object is an instance
    |  
    |  __repr__(...)
    |      x.__repr__() <==> repr(x)
    |  
    |  __setattr__(...)
    |      x.__setattr__('name', value) <==> x.name = value
    |  
    |  __subclasscheck__(...)
    |      __subclasschck__ -> check if an class is a subclass
    |  
    |  __subclasses__(...)
    |      __subclasses__() -> list of immediate subclasses
    |  
    |  mro(...)
    |      mro() -> list
    |      return a type's method resolution order
    |  
    |  

   ---

   | Data descriptors defined here:
   |
   | __abstractmethods__
   |
   | __base__
   |
   | __bases__
   |
   | __basicsize__
   |
   | __dict__
   |
   | __dictoffset__
   |
   | __flags__
   |
   | __itemsize__
   |
   | __mro__
   |
   | __weakrefoffset__
   |
   | ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   | Data and other attributes defined here:
   |
   | __new__ = <built-in method __new__ of type object at 0x145600>
   | T.__new__(S, ...) -> a new object with type S, a subtype of T
   |
   | __prepare__ = <built-in method __prepare__ of type object at 0x145600>
   | __prepare__() -> dict
   | used to create the namespace for the class statement

   >>> type.__doc__
   "type(object) -> the object's type\ntype(name, bases, dict) -> a new type"
   >>> 

   observe help(type) and type.__doc__ in Python 3.2:

   >>> help(type)
   Help on class type in module builtins:
   
   type = <class 'type'>
   >>> type.__doc__
   "type(object) -> the object's type\ntype(name, bases, dict) -> a new type"
   >>> 

   It appears that the __doc__ attribute of <class 'type'> is unchanged from Python 3.1 to 3.2, but it is not being displayed by the help function in Python 3.2.

   The help function is very important to using Python! This should be fixed.
2. christopherthemagnificent

   assigned

   docspython

   on Dec 11, 2011
3. christopherthemagnificent

   added

   docsDocumentation in the Doc dirDocumentation in the Doc dir

   interpreter-core(Objects, Python, Grammar, and Parser dirs)(Objects, Python, Grammar, and Parser dirs)

   type-bugAn unexpected behavior, bug, or errorAn unexpected behavior, bug, or error

   on Dec 11, 2011
4. amauryfa commented on Dec 11, 2011

   

   amauryfa

   on Dec 11, 2011

   Contributor

   More actions

   It fails for the same reason as bpo-1785:

   ~/python/cpython3.2$ ./python -c "import inspect; inspect.classify_class_attrs(type)"
   Traceback (most recent call last):
     File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
     File "/home/amauryfa/python/cpython3.2/Lib/inspect.py", line 321, in classify_class_attrs
       obj_via_getattr = getattr(cls, name)
   AttributeError: __abstractmethods__
5. python-dev commented on Dec 21, 2011

   

   python-devmannequin

   on Dec 21, 2011

   Mannequin

   More actions

   New changeset 902f694a7b0e by Antoine Pitrou in branch '3.2':
   Issue bpo-1785: Fix inspect and pydoc with misbehaving descriptors.
   http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/902f694a7b0e

   New changeset b08bf8df8eec by Antoine Pitrou in branch 'default':
   Issue bpo-1785: Fix inspect and pydoc with misbehaving descriptors.
   http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/b08bf8df8eec
6. python-dev commented on Dec 21, 2011

   

   python-devmannequin

   on Dec 21, 2011

   Mannequin

   More actions

   New changeset 13f56cd8dec1 by Antoine Pitrou in branch '2.7':
   Issue bpo-1785: Fix inspect and pydoc with misbehaving descriptors.
   http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/13f56cd8dec1
7. pitrou commented on Dec 21, 2011

   

   pitrou

   on Dec 21, 2011

   Member

   More actions

   Now fixed in all 3 branches.
8. pitrou

   closed this as completedon Dec 21, 2011
9. ezio-melotti

   transferred this issue fromon Apr 10, 2022