Issue #14631: Add a new :class:weakref.WeakMethod to simulate weak references to bound methods.

Lib/weakref.py

@@ -27,7 +27,61 @@ ProxyTypes = (ProxyType, CallableProxyType)
 __all__ = ["ref", "proxy", "getweakrefcount", "getweakrefs",
            "WeakKeyDictionary", "ReferenceType", "ProxyType",
            "CallableProxyType", "ProxyTypes", "WeakValueDictionary",
-           "WeakSet"]
+           "WeakSet", "WeakMethod"]
+
+
+class WeakMethod(ref):
+    """
+    A custom `weakref.ref` subclass which simulates a weak reference to
+    a bound method, working around the lifetime problem of bound methods.
+    """
+
+    __slots__ = "_func_ref", "_meth_type", "_alive", "__weakref__"
+
+    def __new__(cls, meth, callback=None):
+        try:
+            obj = meth.__self__
+            func = meth.__func__
+        except AttributeError:
+            raise TypeError("argument should be a bound method, not {}"
+                            .format(type(meth))) from None
+        def _cb(arg):
+            # The self-weakref trick is needed to avoid creating a reference
+            # cycle.
+            self = self_wr()
+            if self._alive:
+                self._alive = False
+                if callback is not None:
+                    callback(self)
+        self = ref.__new__(cls, obj, _cb)
+        self._func_ref = ref(func, _cb)
+        self._meth_type = type(meth)
+        self._alive = True
+        self_wr = ref(self)
+        return self
+
+    def __call__(self):
+        obj = super().__call__()
+        func = self._func_ref()
+        if obj is None or func is None:
+            return None
+        return self._meth_type(func, obj)
+
+    def __eq__(self, other):
+        if isinstance(other, WeakMethod):
+            if not self._alive or not other._alive:
+                return self is other
+            return ref.__eq__(self, other) and self._func_ref == other._func_ref
+        return False
+
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        if isinstance(other, WeakMethod):
+            if not self._alive or not other._alive:
+                return self is not other
+            return ref.__ne__(self, other) or self._func_ref != other._func_ref
+        return True
+
+    __hash__ = ref.__hash__
 
 
 class WeakValueDictionary(collections.MutableMapping):