Feature or enhancement

Proposal:

I propose to provide modern alternatives to and deprecate these inspect members:

• getargs() undocumented helper used in getargvalues. It works with __code__ objects. Can it be replaced with modern tooling? Not yet: we have an internal helper to get signatures from __code__ objects: https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/39ef93edb9802dccdb6555d4209ac2e60875a011/Lib/inspect.py#L2423-L2488 But, some refactoring is required

• getargvalues() only works with frame objects, but it does not work correctly with pos-only and kw-only parameters. Bug: inspect.getargvalues does not work correctly for pos-only and kw-only arguments · Issue #107833 · python/cpython · GitHub Can it be replaced with modern tooling? No, I propose adding inspect.Signature.from_frame method

Notice: formatargvalues should also be deprecated, because the only way to use is together with getargvalues.

There was a reverted attempt to depracate them in 3.5

• getcallargs() was documented as deprecated for a long time, it also has known bugs with pos-only params (inspect.getcallargs does not raise TypeError for pos-only passed as keywords · Issue #107831 · python/cpython · GitHub). Can it be replaced with modern tooling? Yes: inspect.Signature.bind

• getfullargspec() is documented as

  Note that signature() and Signature Object provide the recommended API for callable introspection, and support additional behaviours (like positional-only arguments) that are sometimes encountered in extension module APIs. This function is retained primarily for use in code that needs to maintain compatibility with the Python 2 inspect module API.

It has a rich history of deprecation / undeprecation:

• Deprecated: inspect: Deprecate getfullargspec? #64637
• Undeprecated: Undeprecate inspect.getfullargspec() #71359
• Suggested to be deprecated again: Deprecate legacy introspection APIs in the inspect module #76371

More history: #76371 (comment)

It is broken in a sense that it does not differentiate pos-only from pos-or-keyword parameters.

Can it be replaced with modern tooling? Partially: inspect.signature has some differences. But, getfullargspec() uses signature() internally

Has this already been discussed elsewhere?

I have already discussed this feature proposal on Discourse

Links to previous discussion of this feature:

https://discuss.python.org/t/consider-deprecating-a-bunch-of-inspect-functions/31369

CC @gpshead

Linked PRs

• gh-108901: Add Signature.from_code method #108902
• gh-108901: Deprecate inspect.getcallargs and slate it for removal #112236
• gh-108901: Deprecate inspect.getargs, slate it for removal in 3.15 #112279
• gh-108901: Deprecate inspect.getfullargspec and slate it for removal in 3.15 #112314
• gh-108901: Deprecate inspect.getargvalues and inspect.formatargvalues, provide modern alternative #112639
• gh-108901: Add inspect.Signature.from_frame #116537
• gh-108901: Add bound_arg to Signature.from_callable() and signature() #116559