gf shell is not passing python globals into user defined functions

[meeas]

This appears only to be an issue in 2024.0.0 and 2024.0.1.

For instance, open gf shell and paste this code:

import time
def read(x):
    time.sleep(x)
    print("Done")
read(2)

This fails with a NameError: name 'time' is not defined error.

[mossmann]

This appears to have been introduced in #414, though I haven't tried to thoroughly test the previous commit because the bug fixed by #414 complicates that testing.

[mossmann]

I was able to test 4d56571 (prior to #414) successfully by downgrading ipython:

pip install "ipython<=8.10"

This bug was definitely introduced in #414.

[mossmann]

The origin of this bug is really here: ipython/ipython#13966
Our current problem is with the workaround that was accepted for this ipython bug.

[mossmann]

As a workaround, I recommend using ipython directly instead of gf shell:

# ipython
Python 3.11.4 (main, Dec  7 2023, 15:43:41) [GCC 12.3.0]
Type 'copyright', 'credits' or 'license' for more information
IPython 8.26.0 -- An enhanced Interactive Python. Type '?' for help.

In [1]: from greatfet import GreatFET

In [2]: gf=GreatFET()

[mossmann]

Another (horrible) workaround that can be done inside gf shell:

In [14]: import time

In [15]: def test():
    ...:     print(time.time())
    ...: 

In [16]: test()
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NameError                                 Traceback (most recent call last)
Cell In[16], line 1
----> 1 test()

Cell In[15], line 2, in test()
      1 def test():
----> 2     print(time.time())

NameError: name 'time' is not defined

In [17]: globals().update(locals())

In [18]: test()
1722996533.3737051

The truly horrible thing is that you have to call globals().update(locals()) after every time you update globals.

[mossmann]

It seems that this is an ancient ipython bug: ipython/ipython#62

We're running into it because ipython/ipython#13966 was not fixed.

[mossmann]

I think our solution may be to use start_ipython(). This test script works:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import IPython
from traitlets.config import Config

c = Config()
c.InteractiveShellApp.exec_lines = [
    'from greatfet import GreatFET',
    'gf=GreatFET()',
]
IPython.start_ipython(config=c)