[Python-Dev] Alternative implementation of interning

[Guido van Rossum]

> In Jython as long as we want to support Java 1.1
> (and AFAIK Finn still will) we cannot make interned
> string always mortal.
> So it is OK if CPython goes this route, but the Python
> manual should say that it is unspecified whether
> intern results are mortal or immortal or nothing on the subject
> (now it explicitly says immortal).

That's okay.  Immortality of interned strings is mostly an issue for
very long running server processes that take connections from
arbitrary clients; the issue is that arbitrary client data
accidentally gets immortalized because it is tried as an attribute
name or mapping key.  While Jython *could* be used in JSP server
setups, I expect that most long-running Python servers are using
CPython and a framework like Zope, Twisted or Quixote.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)