Understanding memory leak reports

[Giampaolo Rodola']

Hi,
I'm in a big trouble since I don't know how to find some memory leaks
I just discovered in a program of mine.
By putting:

import gc
gc.set_debug(gc.DEBUG_LEAK)

...at the end of a script which imports a module I wrote it seems I
have some memory leaks scattered around.
The message printed on screen is the following:

gc: collectable <function 00C70E70>
gc: collectable <type 00B41018>
gc: collectable <dict 00C6DE40>
gc: collectable <tuple 00C09900>
gc: collectable <tuple 00BCD510>
gc: collectable <function 00C70EB0>
gc: collectable <function 00C70E30>

Since the main module is very big (more than 2800 lines of code) I do
not understand which objects are not garbage collected.
Is there a way to have a more detailed message to know which objects
are not garbage collected?
For example "function foo", "method MyClass.bar", "dict my_dict"...
"function 00C70E70" and "tuple 00C09900" are too much generic messages
which don't give me an idea about where the leak could be.

 

[kyosohma]

Hi,
I'm in a big trouble since I don't know how to find some memory leaks
I just discovered in a program of mine.
By putting:

import gc
gc.set_debug(gc.DEBUG_LEAK)

..at the end of a script which imports a module I wrote it seems I
have some memory leaks scattered around.
The message printed on screen is the following:

gc: collectable <function 00C70E70>
gc: collectable <type 00B41018>
gc: collectable <dict 00C6DE40>
gc: collectable <tuple 00C09900>
gc: collectable <tuple 00BCD510>
gc: collectable <function 00C70EB0>
gc: collectable <function 00C70E30>

Since the main module is very big (more than 2800 lines of code) I do
not understand which objects are not garbage collected.
Is there a way to have a more detailed message to know which objects
are not garbage collected?
For example "function foo", "method MyClass.bar", "dict my_dict"...
"function 00C70E70" and "tuple 00C09900" are too much generic messages
which don't give me an idea about where the leak could be.

I've never done this before, but here's what I found while Googling:

Recipe that supposedly gives more info:
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/65333

Another thread on the same topic that looks quite detailed:
http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread22097.html

An article or two on memory leaks in Python:
http://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/python/DebuggingPythonMemoryLeaks
http://www.nightmare.com/medusa/memory-leaks.html

I hope they help.

Mike

 

[Giampaolo Rodola']

I've never done this before, but here's what I found while Googling:

Recipe that supposedly gives more info:http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/65333

Another thread on the same topic that looks quite detailed:http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread22097.html

An article or two on memory leaks in Python:http://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/...://www.nightmare.com/medusa/memory-leaks.html

I hope they help.

Mike- Nascondi testo tra virgolette -

- Mostra testo tra virgolette -

Thanks for your search but I haven't actually found a solution yet.
I've tried to search into the cookbook. I found other recipes playing
with the gc module but it seems that none of them are useful for
finding out the names of the objects causing the memory leak.
I've tried to play with gc.get_objects() in the hope to find the real
names manually but it returns a very large number of objects.
If only I could find a way to make gc.get_objects() returning leaking
objects only it would be a step forward...
Does someone have an idea about how doing such a thing?

 

[Ross Ridge]

I'm in a big trouble since I don't know how to find some memory leaks ....
The message printed on screen is the following:

gc: collectable <function 00C70E70>
gc: collectable <type 00B41018>
gc: collectable <dict 00C6DE40>
gc: collectable <tuple 00C09900>
gc: collectable <tuple 00BCD510>
gc: collectable <function 00C70EB0>
gc: collectable <function 00C70E30>

Since the main module is very big (more than 2800 lines of code) I do
not understand which objects are not garbage collected.

They are being garbage collected. That's what the "collectable" part
of the message means. It's just a warning that those objects needed
to be garbage collected because they were refering to each other in
some sort of cycle. While the memory used was being wasted before the
garbage collector ran, it probably doesn't have any negative effect on
your program.

Ross Ridge

 

[Giampaolo Rodola']

They are being garbage collected.  That's what the "collectable" part
of the message means.  It's just a warning that those objects needed
to be garbage collected because they were refering to each other in
some sort of cycle.  While the memory used was being wasted before the
garbage collector ran, it probably doesn't have any negative effect on
your program.

                                                Ross Ridge

Uhm... that's a good news altough it doesn't seem to me that I used
any sort of cicle.
Thank you.

 

[Istvan Albert]

Since the main module is very big (more than 2800 lines of code)

maybe that is the actual problem to begin with,

you should refactor it so it it more modular and trackable, otherwise
this is just one of the many issues that will crop up,

just an opinion.

i.