docs: more warnings about locking and the GIL (#5689)

* docs: more warnings about locking and the GIL

Signed-off-by: Henry Schreiner <[email protected]>

* fix require → reacquire typo

---------

Signed-off-by: Henry Schreiner <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve <[email protected]>

Author: henryiii

docs/advanced/misc.rst

@@ -299,9 +299,17 @@ However, the module is no longer free-threading safe, for the same reason as
 before, because the calculation is not synchronized. We can synchronize it
 using a Python critical section. This will do nothing if not in free-threaded
 Python. You can have it lock one or two Python objects. You cannot nest it.
-(Note: In Python 3.13t, Python re-locks if you enter a critical section again,
-which happens in various places. This was optimized away in 3.14+. Use a
-``std::mutex`` instead if this is a problem).
+
+.. warning::
+
+   When using a ``py::scoped_critical_section``, make sure it is not nested and
+   that no other synchronization primitives (such as a ``std::mutex``) are
+   held, which could lead to deadlocks. In 3.13, taking the same lock causes it
+   to release then reacquire, which means you can't use it to, for example, read
+   and write to a dictionary, because the dictionary uses a critical section
+   internally in CPython. Use a ``std::mutex`` instead if you need this on
+   Python 3.13. In 3.14, taking a lock on a locked object no longer releases
+   and relocks as an optimization, which also fixes this case.
 
 .. code-block:: cpp
     :emphasize-lines: 1,4,8

tests/test_embed/test_interpreter.cpp

@@ -365,8 +365,13 @@ TEST_CASE("Threads") {
                 py::gil_scoped_acquire gil{};
 #ifdef Py_GIL_DISABLED
 #    if PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x030E0000
+                // This will not run with the GIL, so it won't deadlock. That's
+                // because of how we run our tests. Be more careful of
+                // deadlocks if the "free-threaded" GIL could be enabled (at
+                // runtime).
                 std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock(mutex);
 #    else
+                // CPython's thread-safe API in no-GIL mode.
                 py::scoped_critical_section lock(locals);
 #    endif
 #endif