Summary

Fixes gh-142837 by making multiprocessing.Queue.empty() use the queue semaphore count (when available) instead of pipe readiness, so it aligns better with qsize() / full() behavior.

What Changed

• Lib/multiprocessing/queues.py

  • Updated Queue.empty() to:
    • use self._sem.get_value() == self._maxsize when sem_getvalue() is available
    • fall back to not self._poll() when sem_getvalue() is unavailable (e.g. macOS)
  • Preserved closed-queue behavior where empty() may raise OSError.

• Lib/test/_test_multiprocessing.py

  • Added test_empty_uses_semaphore_count to verify empty() is driven by semaphore accounting rather than pipe poll state when supported.

• Doc/library/multiprocessing.rst

  • Clarified queue feeder-thread delay implications for get_nowait().
  • Documented platform-dependent behavior of Queue.empty().
  • Added a versionchanged:: 3.15 note for semaphore-based empty() behavior.

Why

Queue.empty() previously relied on pipe readiness, which could report empty while items were already accounted for in queue size/semaphore state. This caused asymmetric behavior versus qsize()/full() and surprising results under load.

📚 Documentation preview 📚: https://cpython-previews--144832.org.readthedocs.build/