From a94a0ece0dee77cdf4bd0416a7a220cda6e470f1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Henry Schreiner <henryfs@princeton.edu>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 10:42:12 -0400
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix: only cache the internals pp after a successful
 lookup

In get_pp(), last_istate_tls was set before get_or_create_pp_in_state_dict().
If that call threw, the thread cache matched the interpreter but held a null
pp, so later calls returned nullptr ("get_internals: get_pp() returned
nullptr"). Seen intermittently on MinGW in
test_import_in_subinterpreter_concurrently.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-opus-5-5
---
 include/pybind11/detail/internals.h | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/include/pybind11/detail/internals.h b/include/pybind11/detail/internals.h
index 164da39b5c..d755b28517 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/detail/internals.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/detail/internals.h
@@ -650,8 +650,11 @@ class internals_pp_manager {
                 if (!tstate) {
                     tstate = get_thread_state_unchecked();
                 }
+                // Update the cache only on success; a stale interp with a null pp would make
+                // later calls return nullptr.
+                auto *pp = get_or_create_pp_in_state_dict();
                 last_istate_tls() = tstate->interp;
-                internals_p_tls() = get_or_create_pp_in_state_dict();
+                internals_p_tls() = pp;
             }
             return internals_p_tls();
         }

From df617e5f86e6bb5bdab01fe51bcc5d25a550f8ae Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve" <rgrossekunst@nvidia.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 13:58:10 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] test: cover internals cache retries after failed lookup

---
 tests/test_with_catch/test_subinterpreter.cpp | 49 +++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 49 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tests/test_with_catch/test_subinterpreter.cpp b/tests/test_with_catch/test_subinterpreter.cpp
index 570519e641..52b18aa6b7 100644
--- a/tests/test_with_catch/test_subinterpreter.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_with_catch/test_subinterpreter.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ PYBIND11_WARNING_DISABLE_MSVC(4996)
 #    include <cstdlib>
 #    include <fstream>
 #    include <functional>
+#    include <memory>
+#    include <new>
 #    include <thread>
 #    include <utility>
 
@@ -42,6 +44,53 @@ void unsafe_reset_internals_for_single_interpreter() {
     py::detail::get_local_internals();
 }
 
+TEST_CASE("Internals cache retries after a failed lookup") {
+    struct test_internals {
+        bool fail_next_fetch = true;
+    };
+    using manager_type = py::detail::internals_pp_manager<test_internals>;
+    constexpr const char *key = "_pybind11_test_internals_cache_lookup_retry";
+    auto &manager = manager_type::get_instance(key, [](test_internals *internals) {
+        if (internals && internals->fail_next_fetch) {
+            internals->fail_next_fetch = false;
+            throw std::bad_alloc();
+        }
+    });
+    struct reset_guard {
+        manager_type &manager;
+        ~reset_guard() {
+            manager.unref();
+            unsafe_reset_internals_for_single_interpreter();
+        }
+    } reset{manager};
+
+    // Creating a subinterpreter enables the per-thread interpreter cache.
+    auto sub = py::subinterpreter::create();
+    manager.unref();
+
+    auto check_failed_lookup = [&]() {
+        py::subinterpreter_scoped_activate activate(sub);
+        // Prepopulate the capsule so that the lookup invokes on_fetch instead of creating it.
+        auto *expected_pp
+            = py::detail::atomic_get_or_create_in_state_dict<std::unique_ptr<test_internals>>(key)
+                  .first;
+        expected_pp->reset(new test_internals());
+        REQUIRE_THROWS_AS(manager.get_pp(), std::bad_alloc);
+
+        // A failed lookup must neither cache nullptr nor retain another interpreter's pointer.
+        REQUIRE(manager.get_pp() == expected_pp);
+    };
+
+    SECTION("Initially empty cache") { check_failed_lookup(); }
+    SECTION("Cached pointer from another interpreter") {
+        auto *main_pp
+            = py::detail::atomic_get_or_create_in_state_dict<std::unique_ptr<test_internals>>(key)
+                  .first;
+        REQUIRE(manager.get_pp() == main_pp);
+        check_failed_lookup();
+    }
+}
+
 py::object &get_dict_type_object() {
     PYBIND11_CONSTINIT static py::gil_safe_call_once_and_store<py::object> storage;
     return storage