gh-97670: Remove sys.getdxp() and analyze_dxp.py script

[vstinner]

Remove the sys.getdxp() function and the Tools/scripts/analyze_dxp.py script. DXP stands for "dynamic execution pairs". They were related to DYNAMIC_EXECUTION_PROFILE and DXPAIRS macros which have been removed in Python 3.11. Python can now be built with "./configure --enable-pystats" to gather statistics on Python opcodes.

• Issue: Remove sys.getdxp() and Tools/scripts/analyze_dxp.py: superceded by Py_STATS infra #97670

[vstinner]

@markshannon: Would you mind to review this PR?

[vstinner]

@brandtbucher: Would you mind to review this PR?

[markshannon]

Removing the script seems fine.
Do we know for sure that no one is using sys.getdxp()?

[vstinner]

Do we know for sure that no one is using sys.getdxp()?

I just searched in the PyPI top 5000 projects: I found 0 projects using getdxp(). I cannot be 100% sure. But if a project uses getdxp(), it can be updated to use the new way to gather stats, no? Also, we can add back the function if someone comes with a use case for it. For me, it's mostly a tool to develop and optimize Python. So if no Python core dev uses it, I don't think that we should worry about removing this function.

[vstinner]

@smontanaro: I found a script using sys.getdxp() in "BitTorrent-master" . Are you still using it?

# Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Twisted Matrix Laboratories.
# See LICENSE for details.
(...)
def report(email, appname):
    """
    Send an RLE encoded version of sys.getdxp() off to our Top Men (tm)
    for analysis.
    """
    if hasattr(sys, 'getdxp') and appname:
        dxp = xmlrpclib.ServerProxy("http://manatee.mojam.com:7304")
        dxp.add_dx_info(appname, email, sys.version_info[:3], rle(sys.getdxp()))

See twisted/python/dxprofile.py for the full source with the rle() function.

This script was part of Twisted and was removed in Twisted Core 8.0.0 (2008-03-17) because it no longer worked (issue #2908).

[vstinner]

I found references to getdxp() by @smontanaro on python-dev mailing list in 2001-2003:

• Instruction count frequency server
• Python optmizations
• automated testing system
• Dynamic bytecode analysis

[vstinner]

Ah by the way, as you can see in this PR, sys.getdxp() is not documented and not tested at all. There is just a test on the script.

[smontanaro]

@vstinner As you might have expected, I'm no longer using the dxp stuff, but thanks for checking. :-)

[vstinner]

Thanks for reviews. It's now removed.