From: Senthil Kumaran <senthil@uthcode.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2012 10:26:59 +0000 (+0800)
Subject: Issue #9021 - Introduce copy module better. Doc changes suggested by Terry
X-Git-Tag: v3.2.3rc1~85
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=5b14d732d8790a6a19cc8aa410740575ff94c85a;p=thirdparty%2FPython%2Fcpython.git

Issue #9021 - Introduce copy module better. Doc changes suggested by Terry
Reedy.
---

diff --git a/Doc/library/copy.rst b/Doc/library/copy.rst
index 5ae79aa91d1c..0c68bd9d0cfd 100644
--- a/Doc/library/copy.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/copy.rst
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@
 .. module:: copy
    :synopsis: Shallow and deep copy operations.
 
-This module provides generic (shallow and deep) copying operations.
+Assignment statements in Python do not copy objects, they create bindings
+between a target and an object. For collections that are mutable or contain
+mutable items, a copy is sometimes needed so one can change one copy without
+changing the other. This module provides generic shallow and deep copy
+operations (explained below).
 
 
 Interface summary:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 242c08ca2c69..487b46fac02d 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -113,6 +113,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #9021: Add an introduction to the copy module documentation.
+
 - Issue #6005: Examples in the socket library documentation use sendall, where
   relevant, instead send method.