subclass PyDictObject -- any gotchas?

[Aaron Brady]

On Jan 22, 7:49 am, Aaron Brady <castiro... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am trying to create a mapping class similar to the base dictionary,
> but with some added behaviors that affect pointers on a low level.  I
> have a bare-bones version I compiled with MinGW, and it is working!  I
> want to know if there is anything that is going to bite me later, when
> I start adding real behavior: for example, times when my overrides
> won't get called, shortcuts, better macros, etc.
>
> Later on, I will be altering the 'ma_table' field from one call to
> another, overriding most of PyDict_Type's methods with before-and-
> after code, adding synchronization, and copying-and-pasting memory
> allocation code from 'dictobject.c' directly in, since I need the
> object to be at specific addresses.  Anything I need to beware of?
> Any reason it might be infeasible?
>
> 108 lines, please snip on reply.

I would also like to know if there is any chance my subclass can use
the native garbage collection.  For instance, if I could write my own
PyObject_MALLOC, then I could use _PyObject_GC_New.  It doesn't look
promising, since the stuff is all so hard-coded.  For instance,
'_PyObject_GC_Malloc' uses some module-level variables that make it
impossible to duplicate the code, since they are out of scope from my
code.  What do you think?  Is it possible?