[3.12] gh-123242: Note that type.__annotations__ may not exist (GH-124557) (#124562)

JelleZijlstra · web-flow · commit 7ce138fa9bc6 · 2024-09-25T16:27:10.000-07:00
Closes GH-123242. The real criterion is that the attribute does not exist on heap types, but I don't think we should discuss heap vs. static types in the language reference. (cherry picked from commit 99b23c6)
diff --git a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
@@ -1009,6 +1009,14 @@ Special attributes
        collected during class body execution. For best practices on working
        with :attr:`!__annotations__`, please see :ref:`annotations-howto`.
 
+       .. caution::
+
+          Accessing the :attr:`!__annotations__` attribute of a class
+          object directly may yield incorrect results in the presence of
+          metaclasses. In addition, the attribute may not exist for
+          some classes. Use :func:`inspect.get_annotations` to
+          retrieve class annotations safely.
+
    * - .. attribute:: type.__type_params__
      - A :class:`tuple` containing the :ref:`type parameters <type-params>` of
        a :ref:`generic class <generic-classes>`.
