Deprecate arr.device_buffer and arr.device_buffers

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ Remember to align the itemized text with the first line of an item within a list
 
 ## jax 0.4.22
 
+* Deprecations
+  * The `device_buffer` and `device_buffers` properties of JAX arrays are deprecated.
+    Explicit buffers have been replaced by the more flexible array sharding interface,
+    but the previous outputs can be recovered this way:
+    * `arr.device_buffer` becomes `arr.addressable_data(0)`
+    * `arr.device_buffers` becomes `[x.data for x in arr.addressable_shards]`
+
 ## jaxlib 0.4.22
 
 ## jax 0.4.21 (Dec 4 2023)

jax/_src/api.py

@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ def _nan_check_posthook(fun, args, kwargs, output):
   """Hook function called by the C++ jit/pmap to perform NaN checking."""
   buffers = []
   for leaf in tree_leaves(output):
-    if hasattr(leaf, "device_buffers"):
-      buffers.extend(leaf.device_buffers)
+    if hasattr(leaf, "addressable_shards"):
+      buffers.extend([shard.data for shard in leaf.addressable_shards])
 
   try:
     dispatch.check_special(pjit.pjit_p.name, buffers)

jax/_src/array.py

@@ -474,6 +474,10 @@ def devices(self) -> set[Device]:
   # deleted.
   @property
   def device_buffer(self) -> ArrayImpl:
+    # Added 2023 Dec 6
+    warnings.warn(
+      "arr.device_buffer is deprecated. Use arr.addressable_data(0)",
+      DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
     self._check_if_deleted()
     if len(self._arrays) == 1:
       return self._arrays[0]
@@ -484,6 +488,10 @@ def device_buffer(self) -> ArrayImpl:
   # deleted.
   @property
   def device_buffers(self) -> Sequence[ArrayImpl]:
+    # Added 2023 Dec 6
+    warnings.warn(
+      "arr.device_buffers is deprecated. Use [x.data for x in arr.addressable_shards]",
+      DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
     self._check_if_deleted()
     return cast(Sequence[ArrayImpl], self._arrays)
 

jax/_src/test_util.py

@@ -1116,13 +1116,11 @@ class BufferDonationTestCase(JaxTestCase):
   assertNotDeleted = lambda self, x: self._assertDeleted(x, False)
 
   def _assertDeleted(self, x, deleted):
-    if hasattr(x, "_arrays"):
+    if hasattr(x, "_arrays") or hasattr(x, "is_deleted"):
       self.assertEqual(x.is_deleted(), deleted)
-    elif hasattr(x, "device_buffer"):
-      self.assertEqual(x.device_buffer.is_deleted(), deleted)
     else:
-      for buffer in x.device_buffers:
-        self.assertEqual(buffer.is_deleted(), deleted)
+      for shard in x.addressable_shards:
+        self.assertEqual(shard.data.is_deleted(), deleted)
 
 
 @contextmanager

tests/notebooks/colab_cpu.ipynb

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
         "import jax\n",
         "key = jax.random.PRNGKey(1701)\n",
         "arr = jax.random.normal(key, (1000,))\n",
-        "device = arr.device_buffer.device()\n",
+        "device = arr.device()\n",
         "print(f\"JAX device type: {device}\")\n",
         "assert device.platform == \"cpu\", f\"unexpected JAX device type: {device.platform}\""
       ],

tests/xmap_test.py

@@ -929,7 +929,7 @@ def testAllGather(self, mesh):
              in_axes=['i', None], out_axes=[None],
              axis_resources={'i': 'x'})
     h = pjit(f, in_shardings=P('x', None), out_shardings=P(None))(x)
-    assert (h.addressable_data(0) == x.reshape(8)).all()
+    self.assertArraysEqual(h.addressable_data(0), x.reshape(8))
 
   @parameterized.named_parameters(
   {'testcase_name': name, 'mesh': mesh}
@@ -949,7 +949,7 @@ def testReduceScatter(self, mesh):
         out_shardings=P('x', None),
     )(x)
 
-    assert (h.addressable_data(0).reshape(4) == x[0, :]*2).all()
+    self.assertArraysEqual(h.addressable_data(0).reshape(4), x[0, :] * 2)
 
   @jtu.with_mesh([('x', 2)])
   def testBareXmapCollective(self):