bpo-5001, bpo-31169: Fix two uninformative asserts in multiprocessing/managers.py (#3078)
* Make error message more informative
Replace assertions in error-reporting code with more-informative version that doesn't cause confusion over where and what the error is.
* Additional clarification + get travis to check
* Change from SystemError to TypeError
As suggested in PR comment by @pitrou, changing from SystemError; TypeError appears appropriate.
* NEWS file installation; ACKS addition (will do my best to justify it by additional work)
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index d6088b3..6fc41b3 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -1465,6 +1465,7 @@
Michael Sloan
Nick Sloan
Václav Šmilauer
+Allen W. Smith
Christopher Smith
Eric V. Smith
Gregory P. Smith
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2017-08-12-09-25-55.bpo-5001.huQi2Y.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2017-08-12-09-25-55.bpo-5001.huQi2Y.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f157d49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2017-08-12-09-25-55.bpo-5001.huQi2Y.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+There are a number of uninformative asserts in the `multiprocessing` module,
+as noted in issue 5001. This change fixes two of the most potentially
+problematic ones, since they are in error-reporting code, in the
+`multiprocessing.managers.convert_to_error` function. (It also makes more
+informative a ValueError message.) The only potentially problematic change
+is that the AssertionError is now a TypeError; however, this should also
+help distinguish it from an AssertionError being *reported* by the
+function/its caller (such as in issue 31169). - Patch by Allen W. Smith
+(drallensmith on github).