patch 9.0.1776: No support for stable Python 3 ABI Commit: https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/c13b3d1350b60b94fe87f0761ea31c0e7fb6ebf3 Author: Yee Cheng Chin <ychin.git@gmail.com> Date: Sun Aug 20 21:18:38 2023 +0200 patch 9.0.1776: No support for stable Python 3 ABI Problem: No support for stable Python 3 ABI Solution: Support Python 3 stable ABI Commits: 1) Support Python 3 stable ABI to allow mixed version interoperatbility Vim currently supports embedding Python for use with plugins, and the "dynamic" linking option allows the user to specify a locally installed version of Python by setting `pythonthreedll`. However, one caveat is that the Python 3 libs are not binary compatible across minor versions, and mixing versions can potentially be dangerous (e.g. let's say Vim was linked against the Python 3.10 SDK, but the user sets `pythonthreedll` to a 3.11 lib). Usually, nothing bad happens, but in theory this could lead to crashes, memory corruption, and other unpredictable behaviors. It's also difficult for the user to tell something is wrong because Vim has no way of reporting what Python 3 version Vim was linked with. For Vim installed via a package manager, this usually isn't an issue because all the dependencies would already be figured out. For prebuilt Vim binaries like MacVim (my motivation for working on this), AppImage, and Win32 installer this could potentially be an issue as usually a single binary is distributed. This is more tricky when a new Python version is released, as there's a chicken-and-egg issue with deciding what Python version to build against and hard to keep in sync when a new Python version just drops and we have a mix of users of different Python versions, and a user just blindly upgrading to a new Python could lead to bad interactions with Vim. Python 3 does have a solution for this problem: stable ABI / limited API (see https://docs.python.org/3/c-api/stable.html). The C SDK limits the API to a set of functions that are promised to be stable across versions. This pull request adds an ifdef config that allows us to turn it on when building Vim. Vim binaries built with this option should be safe to freely link with any Python 3 libraies without having the constraint of having to use the same minor version. Note: Python 2 has no such concept and this doesn't change how Python 2 integration works (not that there is going to be a new version of Python 2 that would cause compatibility issues in the future anyway). --- Technical details: ====== The stable ABI can be accessed when we compile with the Python 3 limited API (by defining `Py_LIMITED_API`). The Python 3 code (in `if_python3.c` and `if_py_both.h`) would now handle this and switch to limited API mode. Without it set, Vim will still use the full API as before so this is an opt-in change. The main difference is that `PyType_Object` is now an opaque struct that we can't directly create "static types" out of, and we have to create type objects as "heap types" instead. This is because the struct is not stable and changes from version to version (e.g. 3.8 added a `tp_vectorcall` field to it). I had to change all the types to be allocated on the heap instead with just a pointer to them. Other functions are also simply missing in limited API, or they are introduced too late (e.g. `PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize` in 3.10) to it that we need some other ways to do the same thing, so I had to abstract a few things into macros, and sometimes re-implement functions like `PyObject_NEW`. One caveat is that in limited API, `OutputType` (used for replacing `sys.stdout`) no longer inherits from `PyStdPrinter_Type` which I don't think has any real issue other than minor differences in how they convert to a string and missing a couple functions like `mode()` and `fileno()`. Also fixed an existing bug where `tp_basicsize` was set incorrectly for `BufferObject`, `TabListObject, `WinListObject`. Technically, there could be a small performance drop, there is a little more indirection with accessing type objects, and some APIs like `PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize` are missing, but in practice I didn't see any difference, and any well-written Python plugin should try to avoid excessing callbacks to the `vim` module in Python anyway. I only tested limited API mode down to Python 3.7, which seemes to compile and work fine. I haven't tried earlier Python versions. 2) Fix PyIter_Check on older Python vers / type##Ptr unused warning For PyIter_Check, older versions exposed them as either macros (used in full API), or a function (for use in limited API). A previous change exposed PyIter_Check to the dynamic build because Python just moved it to function-only in 3.10 anyway. Because of that, just make sure we always grab the function in dynamic builds in earlier versions since that's what Python eventually did anyway. 3) Move Py_LIMITED_API define to configure script Can now use --with-python-stable-abi flag to customize what stable ABI version to target. Can also use an env var to do so as well. 4) Show +python/dyn-stable in :version, and allow has() feature query Not sure if the "/dyn-stable" suffix would break things, or whether we should do it another way. Or just don't show it in version and rely on has() feature checking. 5) Documentation first draft. Still need to implement v:python3_version 6) Fix PyIter_Check build breaks when compiling against Python 3.8 7) Add CI coverage stable ABI on Linux/Windows / make configurable on Windows This adds configurable options for Windows make files (both MinGW and MSVC). CI will also now exercise both traditional full API and stable ABI for Linux and Windows in the matrix for coverage. Also added a "dynamic" option to Linux matrix as a drive-by change to make other scripting languages like Ruby / Perl testable under both static and dynamic builds. 8) Fix inaccuracy in Windows docs Python's own docs are confusing but you don't actually want to use `python3.dll` for the dynamic linkage. 9) Add generated autoconf file 10) Add v:python3_version support This variable indicates the version of Python3 that Vim was built against (PY_VERSION_HEX), and will be useful to check whether the Python library you are loading in dynamically actually fits it. When built with stable ABI, it will be the limited ABI version instead (`Py_LIMITED_API`), which indicates the minimum version of Python 3 the user should have, rather than the exact match. When stable ABI is used, we won't be exposing PY_VERSION_HEX in this var because it just doesn't seem necessary to do so (the whole point of stable ABI is the promise that it will work across versions), and I don't want to confuse the user with too many variables. Also, cleaned up some documentation, and added help tags. 11) Fix Python 3.7 compat issues Fix a couple issues when using limited API < 3.8 - Crash on exit: In Python 3.7, if a heap-allocated type is destroyed before all instances are, it would cause a crash later. This happens when we destroyed `OptionsType` before calling `Py_Finalize` when using the limited API. To make it worse, later versions changed the semantics and now each instance has a strong reference to its own type and the recommendation has changed to have each instance de-ref its own type and have its type in GC traversal. To avoid dealing with these cross-version variations, we just don't free the heap type. They are static types in non-limited-API anyway and are designed to last through the entirety of the app, and we also don't restart the Python runtime and therefore do not need it to have absolutely 0 leaks. See: - https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.8.html#changes-in-the-c-api - https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.9.html#changes-in-the-c-api - PyIter_Check: This function is not provided in limited APIs older than 3.8. Previously I was trying to mock it out using manual PyType_GetSlot() but it was brittle and also does not actually work properly for static types (it will generate a Python error). Just return false. It does mean using limited API < 3.8 is not recommended as you lose the functionality to handle iterators, but from playing with plugins I couldn't find it to be an issue. - Fix loading of PyIter_Check so it will be done when limited API < 3.8. Otherwise loading a 3.7 Python lib will fail even if limited API was specified to use it. 12) Make sure to only load `PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize` in needed in limited API We don't use this function unless limited API >= 3.10, but we were loading it regardless. Usually it's ok in Unix-like systems where Python just has a single lib that we load from, but in Windows where there is a separate python3.dll this would not work as the symbol would not have been exposed in this more limited DLL file. This makes it much clearer under what condition is this function needed. closes: #12032 Signed-off-by: Christian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org> Co-authored-by: Yee Cheng Chin <ychin.git@gmail.com>

*mlang.txt*     For Vim version 9.0.  Last change: 2022 Sep 17


		  VIM REFERENCE MANUAL    by Bram Moolenaar


Multi-language features				*multilang* *multi-lang*

This is about using messages and menus in various languages.  For editing
multibyte text see |multibyte|.

The basics are explained in the user manual: |usr_45.txt|.

1. Messages			|multilang-messages|
2. Menus			|multilang-menus|
3. Scripts			|multilang-scripts|

Also see |help-translated| for multi-language help.

{not available when compiled without the |+multi_lang| feature}

==============================================================================
1. Messages						*multilang-messages*

Vim picks up the locale from the environment.  In most cases this means Vim
will use the language that you prefer, unless it's not available.

To see a list of supported locale names on your system, look in one of these
directories (for Unix):
	/usr/lib/locale ~
	/usr/share/locale ~
Unfortunately, upper/lowercase differences matter.  Also watch out for the
use of "-" and "_".

					    *:lan* *:lang* *:language* *E197*
:lan[guage]
:lan[guage] mes[sages]
:lan[guage] cty[pe]
:lan[guage] tim[e]
:lan[guage] col[late]
			Print the current language (aka locale).
			With the "messages" argument the language used for
			messages is printed.  Technical: LC_MESSAGES.
			With the "ctype" argument the language used for
			character encoding is printed.  Technical: LC_CTYPE.
			With the "time" argument the language used for
			strftime() is printed.  Technical: LC_TIME.
			With the "collate" argument the language used for
			collation order is printed.  Technical: LC_COLLATE.
			Without argument all parts of the locale are printed
			(this is system dependent).
			The current language can also be obtained with the
			|v:lang|, |v:ctype|, |v:collate| and |v:lc_time|
			variables.

:lan[guage] {name}
:lan[guage] mes[sages] {name}
:lan[guage] cty[pe] {name}
:lan[guage] tim[e] {name}
:lan[guage] col[late] {name}
			Set the current language (aka locale) to {name}.
			The locale {name} must be a valid locale on your
			system.  Some systems accept aliases like "en" or
			"en_US", but some only accept the full specification
			like "en_US.ISO_8859-1".  On Unix systems you can use
			this command to see what locales are supported: >
				:!locale -a
<			With the "messages" argument the language used for
			messages is set.  This can be different when you want,
			for example, English messages while editing Japanese
			text.  This sets $LC_MESSAGES.
			With the "ctype" argument the language used for
			character encoding is set.  This affects the libraries
			that Vim was linked with.  It's unusual to set this to
			a different value from 'encoding' or "C".  This sets
			$LC_CTYPE.
			With the "time" argument the language used for time
			and date messages is set.  This affects strftime().
			This sets $LC_TIME.
			With the "collate" argument the language used for the
			collation order is set.  This affects sorting of
			characters. This sets $LC_COLLATE.
			Without an argument all are set, and additionally
			$LANG is set.
			If available the LC_NUMERIC value will always be set
			to "C", so that floating point numbers use '.' as the
			decimal point.
			This will make a difference for items that depend on
			the language (some messages, time and date format).
			Not fully supported on all systems
			If this fails there will be an error message.  If it
			succeeds there is no message.  Example: >
				:language
				Current language: C
				:language de_DE.ISO_8859-1
				:language mes
				Current messages language: de_DE.ISO_8859-1
				:lang mes en
<

MS-WINDOWS MESSAGE TRANSLATIONS				*win32-gettext*

If you used the self-installing .exe file, message translations should work
already.  Otherwise get the libintl.dll file if you don't have it yet:

	http://sourceforge.net/projects/gettext
Or:
	https://mlocati.github.io/gettext-iconv-windows/

This also contains tools xgettext, msgformat and others.

libintl.dll should be placed in same directory as (g)vim.exe, or one of the
directories listed in the PATH environment value.  Vim also looks for the
alternate names "libintl-8.dll" and "intl.dll".

Message files (vim.mo) have to be placed in "$VIMRUNTIME/lang/xx/LC_MESSAGES",
where "xx" is the abbreviation of the language (mostly two letters).

If you write your own translations you need to generate the .po file and
convert it to a .mo file.  You need to get the source distribution and read
the file "src/po/README.txt".

To overrule the automatic choice of the language, set the $LANG variable to
the language of your choice.  use "en" to disable translations. >

  :let $LANG = 'ja'

(text for Windows by Muraoka Taro)

==============================================================================
2. Menus						*multilang-menus*

See |45.2| for the basics, esp. using 'langmenu'.

Note that if changes have been made to the menus after the translation was
done, some of the menus may be shown in English.  Please try contacting the
maintainer of the translation and ask him to update it.  You can find the
name and e-mail address of the translator in
"$VIMRUNTIME/lang/menu_<lang>.vim".

To set the font (or fontset) to use for the menus, use the |:highlight|
command.  Example: >

	:highlight Menu font=k12,r12


ALIAS LOCALE NAMES

Unfortunately, the locale names are different on various systems, even though
they are for the same language and encoding.  If you do not get the menu
translations you expected, check the output of this command: >

	echo v:lang

Now check the "$VIMRUNTIME/lang" directory for menu translation files that use
a similar language.  A difference in a "-" being a "_" already causes a file
not to be found!  Another common difference to watch out for is "iso8859-1"
versus "iso_8859-1".  Fortunately Vim makes all names lowercase, thus you
don't have to worry about case differences.  Spaces are changed to
underscores, to avoid having to escape them.

If you find a menu translation file for your language with a different name,
create a file in your own runtime directory to load that one.  The name of
that file could be: >

	~/.vim/lang/menu_<v:lang>.vim

Check the 'runtimepath' option for directories which are searched.  In that
file put a command to load the menu file with the other name: >

	runtime lang/menu_<other_lang>.vim


TRANSLATING MENUS

If you want to do your own translations, you can use the |:menutrans| command,
explained below.  It is recommended to put the translations for one language
in a Vim script.  For a language that has no translation yet, please consider
becoming the maintainer and make your translations available to all Vim users.
Send an e-mail to the Vim maintainer <maintainer@vim.org>.

					*:menut* *:menutrans* *:menutranslate*
:menut[ranslate] clear
			Clear all menu translations.

:menut[ranslate] {english} {mylang}
			Translate menu name {english} to {mylang}.  All
			special characters like "&" and "<Tab>" need to be
			included.  Spaces and dots need to be escaped with a
			backslash, just like in other |:menu| commands.
			Case in {english} is ignored.

See the $VIMRUNTIME/lang directory for examples.

To try out your translations you first have to remove all menus.  This is how
you can do it without restarting Vim: >
	:source $VIMRUNTIME/delmenu.vim
	:source <your-new-menu-file>
	:source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim

Each part of a menu path is translated separately.  The result is that when
"Help" is translated to "Hilfe" and "Overview" to "Überblick" then
"Help.Overview" will be translated to "Hilfe.Überblick".

==============================================================================
3. Scripts						*multilang-scripts*

In Vim scripts you can use the |v:lang| variable to get the current language
(locale).  The default value is "C" or comes from the $LANG environment
variable.

The following example shows how this variable is used in a simple way, to make
a message adapt to language preferences of the user, >

	:if v:lang =~ "de_DE"
	:  echo "Guten Morgen"
	:else
	:  echo "Good morning"
	:endif
<

 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: