multithreaded PyObject_CallFunction

[Bryan]

i've embedded python into our product and i'm not sure how to handle this situation. the following code is a
simplification of a function that calls a python function. i've removed all error checking to furthur simplify the
problem. the following code works correctly:

void foo(context_t ctx) {
PyObject py_interp = NULL;
PyObject py_mod = NULL;
PyObject py_call_foo = NULL;
const char *mod;

PyEval_AcquireL ock();
py_interp = get_interpreter (ctx);
PyThreadState_S wap(py_interp);

mod = get_module(ctx) ;
py_mod = PyImport_Import Module(mod);
py_call_foo = PyObject_GetAtt rString(py_mod, "py_foo");
PyObject_CallFu nction(py_call_ foo, NULL);

Py_XDECREF(py_i nterp);
Py_XDECREF(py_m od);
Py_XDECREF(py_c all_foo);

PyThreadState_S wap(NULL);
PyEval_ReleaseL ock();
}

now i have a situation where foo may be called at the same time in different c threads. furthermore, the call py_foo
might take forever to execute and foo is then required to return immediately. so i modified the code to something like
this where foo starts a threaded function foo_threaded in a new thread so foo can return immediately.

void foo_threaded(vo id *args) {
PyObject py_interp = NULL;
PyObject py_mod = NULL;
PyObject py_call_foo = NULL;
const char *mod;

PyEval_AcquireL ock();
py_interp = get_interpreter (ctx);
PyThreadState_S wap(py_interp);

mod = get_module(ctx) ;
py_mod = PyImport_Import Module(mod);
py_call_foo = PyObject_GetAtt rString(py_mod, "py_foo");
PyObject_CallFu nction(py_call_ foo, NULL);

Py_XDECREF(py_i nterp);
Py_XDECREF(py_m od);
Py_XDECREF(py_c all_foo);

PyThreadState_S wap(NULL);
PyEval_ReleaseL ock();
}


void foo(context_t ctx) {
Thread thread;
thread = new_thread(call _py_foo);
thread.start()
}

this seems like the wrong approach to me. if foo gets called a second time but the call to py_foo hasn't returned yet,
the interpreter is still locked. so how can another py_foo be called? the 2nd time foo is called the call to
get_interpreter may or may not return the same interpreter. what am i missing?

thanks for any help.

bryan