From 2a031723eefcf6f1d678bbb4f6018610d43623c4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: dhoekstra2000 <douwe.hoekstra2512@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 May 2021 15:30:22 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] bpo-43558: Add note about base class initialization to
 dataclasses doc (GH-25967)

---
 Doc/library/dataclasses.rst                   | 21 +++++++++++++++++++
 Misc/ACKS                                     |  1 +
 .../2021-05-07-12-27-09.bpo-43558.UGhA8R.rst  |  2 ++
 3 files changed, 24 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-05-07-12-27-09.bpo-43558.UGhA8R.rst

diff --git a/Doc/library/dataclasses.rst b/Doc/library/dataclasses.rst
index bfba15e96dc..e203a1a2132 100644
--- a/Doc/library/dataclasses.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/dataclasses.rst
@@ -491,6 +491,27 @@ depend on one or more other fields.  For example::
         def __post_init__(self):
             self.c = self.a + self.b
 
+The :meth:`__init__` method generated by :func:`dataclass` does not call base
+class :meth:`__init__` methods. If the base class has an :meth:`__init__` method
+that has to be called, it is common to call this method in a
+:meth:`__post_init__` method::
+
+    @dataclass
+    class Rectangle:
+        height: float
+        width: float
+
+    @dataclass
+    class Square(Rectangle):
+        side: float
+
+        def __post_init__(self):
+            super().__init__(self.side, self.side)
+
+Note, however, that in general the dataclass-generated :meth:`__init__` methods
+don't need to be called, since the derived dataclass will take care of
+initializing all fields of any base class that is a dataclass itself.
+
 See the section below on init-only variables for ways to pass
 parameters to :meth:`__post_init__`.  Also see the warning about how
 :func:`replace` handles ``init=False`` fields.
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index 480a486a24c..b023bcb6d72 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -736,6 +736,7 @@ David Hobley
 Tim Hochberg
 Benjamin Hodgson
 Joerg-Cyril Hoehle
+Douwe Hoekstra
 Gregor Hoffleit
 Chris Hoffman
 Tim Hoffmann
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-05-07-12-27-09.bpo-43558.UGhA8R.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-05-07-12-27-09.bpo-43558.UGhA8R.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b0ecb171ef7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Documentation/2021-05-07-12-27-09.bpo-43558.UGhA8R.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Add the remark to :mod:`dataclasses` documentation that the :meth:`__init__` of any base class
+has to be called in :meth:`__post_init__`, along with a code example.
\ No newline at end of file