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authorPierre Glaser <pierreglaser@msn.com>2019-05-13 17:20:48 (GMT)
committerAntoine Pitrou <antoine@python.org>2019-05-13 17:20:48 (GMT)
commit50466c66509de556a8579172f82d1abb1560d8e4 (patch)
treec9f6ecb5622832d33b39055d401399b17b146924
parentb0917df329ba14b7bc6fa782c1b61e7a2163af0b (diff)
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bpo-36867: DOC update multiprocessing.rst (GH-13289)
Followup to bpo-36867.
-rw-r--r--Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst16
1 files changed, 10 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
index a5ecfa6..c6ffb00 100644
--- a/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst
@@ -131,13 +131,17 @@ to start a process. These *start methods* are
handles on Windows.
On Unix using the *spawn* or *forkserver* start methods will also
-start a *semaphore tracker* process which tracks the unlinked named
-semaphores created by processes of the program. When all processes
-have exited the semaphore tracker unlinks any remaining semaphores.
+start a *resource tracker* process which tracks the unlinked named
+system resources (such as named semaphores or
+:class:`~multiprocessing.shared_memory.SharedMemory` objects) created
+by processes of the program. When all processes
+have exited the resource tracker unlinks any remaining tracked object.
Usually there should be none, but if a process was killed by a signal
-there may be some "leaked" semaphores. (Unlinking the named semaphores
-is a serious matter since the system allows only a limited number, and
-they will not be automatically unlinked until the next reboot.)
+there may be some "leaked" resources. (Neither leaked semaphores nor shared
+memory segments will be automatically unlinked until the next reboot. This is
+problematic for both objects because the system allows only a limited number of
+named semaphores, and shared memory segments occupy some space in the main
+memory.)
To select a start method you use the :func:`set_start_method` in
the ``if __name__ == '__main__'`` clause of the main module. For