[Discuss] Python programming questtion

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On 7/4/26 2:08 PM, grg wrote:
> actually, cpython 3.13 had an experimental non-GIL mode, and starting with
> 3.14 it's "mainstream".  it's a separate binary, often a separate package
> (e.g. python3.14-nogil or python3.14-freethreading depending on your
> distro, or 3.14t for uv (which is an outstanding tool, btw, highly
> recommended for anyone using python)).

Very cool!

I had heard there was really good work to fix the GIL, but that Guido 
insisted that any fix have zero-performance hit on single threaded code. 
Or something like that. A separate binary might have been the way out of 
that impasse.

> the official docs on it point out that some packages re-enable the GIL 
> anyway:
I can imagine packages being "clever" in ways that can't handle 
multithreading.

Still, very good news for Python programmers. (And would be for me, were 
I still a Python fan.)


-kb, the Kent who has moved on to Rust.