The custom exception handling added in PR #273 is robust, but is overly
complex for declaring the most common simple C++ -> Python exception
mapping that needs only to copy `what()`. This add a simpler
`py::register_exception<CppExp>(module, "PyExp");` function that greatly
simplifies the common basic case of translation of a simple CppException
into a simple PythonException, while not removing the more advanced
capabilities of defining custom exception handlers.
This clears the Python error at the error_already_set throw site, thus
allowing Python calls to be made in destructors which are triggered by
the exception. This is preferable to the alternative, which would be
guarding every Python API call with an error_scope.
This effectively flips the behavior of error_already_set. Previously,
it was assumed that the error stays in Python, so handling the exception
in C++ would require explicitly calling PyErr_Clear(), but nothing was
needed to propagate the error to Python. With this change, handling the
error in C++ does not require a PyErr_Clear() call, but propagating the
error to Python requires an explicit error_already_set::restore().
The change does not break old code which explicitly calls PyErr_Clear()
for cleanup, which should be the majority of user code. The need for an
explicit restore() call does break old code, but this should be mostly
confined to the library and not user code.
Use simple asserts and pytest's powerful introspection to make testing
simpler. This merges the old .py/.ref file pairs into simple .py files
where the expected values are right next to the code being tested.
This commit does not touch the C++ part of the code and replicates the
Python tests exactly like the old .ref-file-based approach.
Jason Rhinelander
Dean Moldovan
Ivan Smirnov