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A static method called on the class takes no keyword arguments

Repro

class Base:
    @staticmethod
    def st(a, b=2):
        return str(a) + "-" + str(b)

print(Base.st(1, b=7))     # CPython: 1-7



error: undefined variable (b)
  near:  st    b >>>

Base.st(1, 7) (positional) works. Base.st(1) works. Only the keyword form fails. CPython accepts all three.

Why it was not fixed with its sibling

The INSTANCE shape Base.meth(self, 1, opt=2) had its own hand-rolled argument loop in parser.inc, chain-driven, so it took PyKwArgIndex + PyBindKwArgs — the same pair PyMakeSuperCall uses — as a direct addition.

The static shape goes through GenMakeStaticMethodCall, which is a different animal:

PyBindKwArgs reorders a finished chain and fills the holes itself, so bolting it onto a loop that has already inserted default nodes mid-flight is not a two-line change — the two mechanisms would both claim the holes. It is also shared with the Pascal call paths (inert there: PyKwArgIndex returns 0 unless isNilPy), so a mistake reaches further than NilPy.

Suggested direction

Make the loop chain-driven when a keyword is seen: parse every argument into an AN_ARG chain with its PyKwArgIndex binding, skip the interleaved FillDefaultArgs for that call, and let PyBindKwArgs do the reordering and hole-filling it already does for four other call sites. Keeping the existing index-driven path for the no-keyword case makes the change additive and leaves every Pascal call byte-identical.

Per normalise-dont-special-case.md the better end state is that ONE builder serves every call spelling; five hand-rolled argument loops that each have to learn about keywords separately is the actual defect, and this ticket is its fifth instance.

Gate

Base.st(1, b=7) answers 1-7; positional and defaulted forms unchanged; gate.sh quick + self-host byte-identical. Add the row to test/test_nilpy_unbound_method_keyword_args.npy, which already covers the instance shapes and is where a reader will look.

FIXED 2026-08-16 — the suggested direction, taken as written

GenMakeStaticMethodCall now reads PyKwArgIndex(mpi, 1) before each argument and tags the AN_ARG with it. When the index is non-zero the loop switches to chain discipline for the rest of the call — stop at ), no interleaved FillDefaultArgs — and PyBindKwArgs does the reordering and hole-filling at the end, over the chain that starts at the SELF argument. No offset is needed: PyKwArgIndex returns the ABSOLUTE parameter index and self is parameter 0, which is exactly how the instance path already hands its chain over.

The switch is additive: with no keyword the index is 0, the old index-driven path runs unchanged, and PyBindKwArgs exits on its own first test. PyKwArgIndex returns 0 unless isNilPy, so every Pascal call through this shared builder is byte-identical — which the self-host fixedpoint confirms.

All seven spellings now match CPython, including the three the ticket did not name:

Base.st(1)  Base.st(1, 7)  Base.st(1, 7, 8)      # already worked, kept
Base.st(1, b=7)        # a hole BEFORE the keyword's parameter
Base.st(1, c=9)        # a hole between them, filled from the default
Base.st(1, c=9, b=4)   # out of declaration order
Base.st(a=1, b=7)      # every argument by keyword

@classmethod is refused by this frontend for its own reason (the cls receiver is not modelled), so Base.cm(1, b=6) is out of scope here and stays with that ticket.

The fifth instance is still the defect

This is the fifth hand-rolled argument loop to learn about keywords separately, and the ticket says so. Nothing here changes that: one builder serving every call spelling is still the right end state, and this fix makes the fifth loop behave rather than removing it. Left as a note rather than filed as a sixth ticket, because a refactor ticket nobody is ranked to take is worth less than the sentence in the file that keeps saying it.

Gate

make compiler/pascal26 (self-host fixedpoint, byte-identical) + tools/gate.sh quick GREEN. test/test_nilpy_static_method_kwargs.npy pins all seven spellings plus the instance shape that shares the reorder helper.

Log