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Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/c-api/init.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/c-api/init.rst | 16 |
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/c-api/init.rst b/Doc/c-api/init.rst index a0ac4d2..4985a1d 100644 --- a/Doc/c-api/init.rst +++ b/Doc/c-api/init.rst @@ -1141,10 +1141,18 @@ Sub-interpreter support While in most uses, you will only embed a single Python interpreter, there are cases where you need to create several independent interpreters in the -same process and perhaps even in the same thread. Sub-interpreters allow -you to do that. You can switch between sub-interpreters using the -:c:func:`PyThreadState_Swap` function. You can create and destroy them -using the following functions: +same process and perhaps even in the same thread. Sub-interpreters allow +you to do that. + +The "main" interpreter is the first one created when the runtime initializes. +It is usually the only Python interpreter in a process. Unlike sub-interpreters, +the main interpreter has unique process-global responsibilities like signal +handling. It is also responsible for execution during runtime initialization and +is usually the active interpreter during runtime finalization. The +:c:func:`PyInterpreterState_Main` funtion returns a pointer to its state. + +You can switch between sub-interpreters using the :c:func:`PyThreadState_Swap` +function. You can create and destroy them using the following functions: .. c:function:: PyThreadState* Py_NewInterpreter() |