I am running the following command

$ python -m trace -C pickle-trace.d -c -m Lib/test/test_pickle.py

and getting attached file, pickle.cover, in the pickle-trace.d directory.  This does not look right.  From the very beginning, module level statements are marked as not executed:


>>>>>> __version__ = "$Revision: 82937 $"       # Code version
       
>>>>>> from types import FunctionType, BuiltinFunctionType
>>>>>> from copyreg import dispatch_table
>>>>>> from copyreg import _extension_registry, _inverted_registry, _extension_cache
>>>>>> import marshal
>>>>>> import sys

The method I was interested in, _instantiate, shows as if it was never executed even though if I add a failing assert, I do see test failure.

I suspect that this may have something to do with the import trickery that test_pickle does to test with and without _pickle.