autodoc: Instance variables auto-link to unrelated variables of the same name in other classes/modules

[rvguha]

Bug description

When using autodoc (typically via sphinx-apidoc), if a global variable (or any variable) exists, and inside a class you document a variable of the same name, the instance variable documentation will automatically link to the other occurrence of a variable with the same name.

This can occur across subpackages and even across other classes of those subpackages. This is problematic because, for example, somepackage.subA::Foo.somename could be and usually is completely unrelated to somepackage.subB::Bar.somename. Furthermore, somepackage::Foo.somename (instance variable) could be completely unrelated to somepackage.somename (global variable).

The auto-linking of these two together is unexpected behavior.

Steps to reproduce

$ git clone https://github.com/13steinj/sphinx-issue-examples/
$ cd sphinx-issue-examples
$ git checkout referenced_variables
$ cd docs
$ make html
$ cd _build/html && python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8008

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8008 in a browser.

Expected behavior

The class instance variable documentation should not be automatically linked to any other variable of the same name. These are almost certainly unrelated. If they happen to be related, the user can explicitly document that relationship with a reference such as see :const:somename```.

There is no reason that a limit variable on a database-oriented class should auto-link to the limit variable on a config-related class.

Example project

https://github.com/13steinj/sphinx-issue-examples/tree/referenced_variables

Environment info

• OS: Ubuntu 14.04.5
• Python version: 2.7.6
• Sphinx version: 1.8.3
• Sphinx extensions: autodoc, intersphinx, and others (todo, viewcode, githubpages)
• Extra tools: sphinx-apidoc

[jenshnielsen]

Perhaps a duplicate of #14223 #14340 #14332 ?