gh-143993: Document ways to disable remote debugging support by RafaelWO · Pull Request #143994 · python/cpython

RafaelWO · 2026-01-18T10:06:23Z

Although PEP 768 mentions how to disable the mechanism of remote debugging, it is not documented in the Python docs.

This change adds a note on how to disable remote debugging support in a Python interpreter to the remote debugging how-to and to the sys.remote_exec docs.

Issue: Document how to disable remote debugging #143993

📚 Documentation preview 📚:

Although PEP 768 mentions how to disable the mechanism of remote debugging, it is not documented in the Python docs. This change adds a note on how to disable remote debugging support in a Python interpreter to the remote debugging how-to and to the sys.remote_exec docs.

In remote_rebugging.rst Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

in sys.rst Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

hugovk · 2026-01-19T09:17:34Z

Thanks for the PR! It's a good idea to document these three methods together.

@pablogsal What do you think about the placement and prominence of these?

Maybe they don't need to be highlighted in a note admonition and could be regular text?

In the HOWTO, it could perhaps to its own section with a header, which will make it easier to share.

In the sys page, perhaps it could also be regular text at the end of function description (just before "Availability: Unix, Windows").

pablogsal · 2026-01-19T15:42:24Z


 Most platforms require elevated privileges to attach to another Python process.

+.. note::


This probably deserves its own little section that appears in the sidebar :)

Sounds good, added in 52a4439 :)

vstinner · 2026-01-19T17:21:04Z

+   To disable remote debugging support, use any of the following:
+
+   * Set the :envvar:`PYTHON_DISABLE_REMOTE_DEBUG` environment variable to
+     any value before starting the interpreter.


I would prefer suggesting a specific value such as 1.

Fixed in 5d7a544

RafaelWO · 2026-01-20T20:26:45Z

   local and remote interpreters must be the same exact version.



What do you think about adding a reference to the HOWTO here? For example:

See also :ref:`remote-debugging` for information about the remote debugging protocol.

pablogsal · 2026-01-21T07:09:55Z

@pablogsal What do you think about the placement and prominence of these?

I think the one in sys.remote_exec needs to link against the other page. Most users of that don't care about deactivating it as that is mostly an "advanced" use case I would say so I would recommend just linking to the other places

Instead of duplicating the info about disabling remote debugging.

Similar to how it's done for other methods introduced in PEPs.

RafaelWO · 2026-01-21T20:11:06Z

I think the one in sys.remote_exec needs to link against the other page. Most users of that don't care about deactivating it as that is mostly an "advanced" use case I would say so I would recommend just linking to the other places

I replaced the note about how to disable remote debugging in sys.remote_exec with a link to the HOWTO (which mentions how to disable it) in a79c3cc. I hope I understood your suggestion correctly 🙂

pablogsal

LGTM!

Thanks a lot! @RafaelWO

vstinner

LGTM

miss-islington-app · 2026-01-22T10:41:24Z

Thanks @RafaelWO for the PR, and @vstinner for merging it 🌮🎉.. I'm working now to backport this PR to: 3.14.
🐍🍒⛏🤖

…ythonGH-143994) Although PEP 768 mentions how to disable the mechanism of remote debugging, it is not documented in the Python docs. This change adds a note on how to disable remote debugging support in a Python interpreter to the remote debugging how-to. (cherry picked from commit 0b5f835) Co-authored-by: Rafael Weingartner-Ortner <38643099+RafaelWO@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

bedevere-app · 2026-01-22T10:41:38Z

GH-144139 is a backport of this pull request to the 3.14 branch.

vstinner · 2026-01-22T10:45:00Z

Merged, thanks.

…H-143994) (#144139) gh-143993: Document ways to disable remote debugging support (GH-143994) Although PEP 768 mentions how to disable the mechanism of remote debugging, it is not documented in the Python docs. This change adds a note on how to disable remote debugging support in a Python interpreter to the remote debugging how-to. (cherry picked from commit 0b5f835) Co-authored-by: Rafael Weingartner-Ortner <38643099+RafaelWO@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

…ython#143994) Although PEP 768 mentions how to disable the mechanism of remote debugging, it is not documented in the Python docs. This change adds a note on how to disable remote debugging support in a Python interpreter to the remote debugging how-to. Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

bedevere-app Bot added docs Documentation in the Doc dir skip news labels Jan 18, 2026

github-project-automation Bot added this to Docs PRs Jan 18, 2026

github-project-automation Bot moved this to Todo in Docs PRs Jan 18, 2026

bedevere-app Bot mentioned this pull request Jan 18, 2026

Document how to disable remote debugging #143993

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bedevere-app Bot added the awaiting review label Jan 18, 2026

Add internal links to env vars and cmd options

6b6a501

hugovk reviewed Jan 18, 2026

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Comment thread Doc/howto/remote_debugging.rst Outdated

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picnixz reviewed Jan 18, 2026

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Comment thread Doc/howto/remote_debugging.rst

RafaelWO and others added 2 commits January 19, 2026 10:04

Convert long sentence to bullet points (by @hugovk)

cdf5fa2

In remote_rebugging.rst Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

Convert long sentence to bullet points (by @hugovk)

4094fd9

in sys.rst Co-authored-by: Hugo van Kemenade <1324225+hugovk@users.noreply.github.com>

pablogsal reviewed Jan 19, 2026

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vstinner reviewed Jan 19, 2026

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RafaelWO added 2 commits January 20, 2026 21:13

Convert note to subsection

52a4439

Suggest setting PYTHON_DISABLE_REMOTE_DEBUG to 1

5d7a544

RafaelWO commented Jan 20, 2026

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RafaelWO added 2 commits January 21, 2026 20:32

Link from sys.remote_exec to HOWTO

a79c3cc

Instead of duplicating the info about disabling remote debugging.

Link to PEP 768 in versionadded of remote_exec

e9da708

Similar to how it's done for other methods introduced in PEPs.

pablogsal approved these changes Jan 21, 2026

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bedevere-app Bot added awaiting merge and removed awaiting review labels Jan 21, 2026

vstinner approved these changes Jan 22, 2026

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vstinner added the needs backport to 3.14 bugs and security fixes label Jan 22, 2026

vstinner merged commit 0b5f835 into python:main Jan 22, 2026
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github-project-automation Bot moved this from Todo to Done in Docs PRs Jan 22, 2026

bedevere-app Bot removed the awaiting merge label Jan 22, 2026

bedevere-app Bot removed the needs backport to 3.14 bugs and security fixes label Jan 22, 2026

RafaelWO deleted the docs/remote-debug-env-var branch January 22, 2026 15:43


		Most platforms require elevated privileges to attach to another Python process.

		.. note::

		local and remote interpreters must be the same exact version.

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RafaelWO commented Jan 18, 2026 •

edited by hugovk

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