py2.1->py2.3.3 __getattr__ confusion

[Peter Otten]

Holger Joukl wrote:

> With introduction of the new style classes, something
> seems to have changed for __getattr__ hooks, even
> for classic classes:

Here is what I think it boils down to:

<joukl_getattr.py>
class A:
    def __getattr__(self, name):
        raise Exception

repr(A())
</joukl_getattr.py>

$ python2.1 joukl_getattr.py
$ python2.2 joukl_getattr.py
$ python2.3 joukl_getattr.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "joukl_getattr.py", line 20, in ?
    repr(A())
  File "joukl_getattr.py", line 18, in __getattr__
    raise Exception
Exception

<joukl_getattr2.py>
class A:
    def __getattr__(self, name):
        print name
        raise AttributeError

repr(A())
</joukl_getattr2.py>

$ python2.2 joukl_getattr2.py
__repr__
$ python2.3 joukl_getattr2.py
__repr__

That is, starting with Python 2.3 the repr() and str() functions no longer
mask exceptions other than AttributeError. Solution: make sure you raise an
AttributeError instead of the current KeyError for nonexistent attributes.


Peter