Issue 1405: Garbage collection not working correctly in Python 2.3 (original) (raw)
Created on 2007-11-08 16:31 by pythonmeister, last changed 2022-04-11 14:56 by admin. This issue is now closed.
Messages (7)
Author: Stefan Sonnenberg-Carstens (pythonmeister)
Date: 2007-11-08 16:31
when running this script: aList = [] for i in xrange(5E5): aList += [[]] for j in xrange(10): aList[-1].append([]) del aList
It does not give back the memory
even a
import gc gc.collect()
afterwards does not do it.
In Python 2.5 the memory is freed again correctly, at least under Windows.
The problem came up, because I was parsing a CSV file of 50 MB which resulted in memory usage of more than 500 MB.
Author: Christian Heimes (christian.heimes) * 
Date: 2007-11-08 17:30
I'm sorry but Python 2.3 is long gone. Its maintenance cycle has ended over a year ago.Nobody is going to fix an outdated version when the new versions of Python are working fine. Can you update to a new version of Python?
Author: Stefan Sonnenberg-Carstens (pythonmeister)
Date: 2007-11-09 18:51
No, I can't. As many Front Arena Developers on the 1.6/2.0/2.1/2.2 can't. Python 2.4 will be in Front Arena 4.0. Lightyears away from here. Same behaviour seen under Solaris 10 / Python 2.5.1
Author: Paul Pogonyshev (_doublep)
Date: 2007-11-09 19:16
See if gc.set_threshold (0, 0, 0) helps.
Author: Guido van Rossum (gvanrossum) *
Date: 2007-11-09 19:29
How do you know the memory isn't given back? It may be available for reallocation within Python, just not given back to the operating system. That's not necessarily a leak or a bug; that could just be heap fragmentation. There's nothing you can do about it.
Author: Paul Pogonyshev (_doublep)
Date: 2007-11-10 15:34
Looks like the memory is freed. As Guido said, "It may be available for reallocation within Python, just not given back to the operating system". I suggest closing this as invalid.
paul@gonzo:~$ python Python 2.3.5 (#2, Oct 16 2006, 19:19:48) [GCC 3.3.5 (Debian 1:3.3.5-13)] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
import gc len ([object for object in gc.get_objects () if isinstance (object, list)]) 25 aList = [] for i in xrange(5E5): ... aList += [[]] ... for j in xrange(10): ... aList[-1].append([] ... ... KeyboardInterrupt aList[-1].append([] KeyboardInterrupt
paul@gonzo:~/emacs$ python Python 2.3.5 (#2, Oct 16 2006, 19:19:48) [GCC 3.3.5 (Debian 1:3.3.5-13)] on linux2 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
import gc len ([object for object in gc.get_objects () if isinstance (object, list)]) 25 aList = [] for i in xrange(5E5): ... aList += [[]] ... for j in xrange(10): ... aList[-1].append([]) ... main:1: DeprecationWarning: integer argument expected, got float del aList len ([object for object in gc.get_objects () if isinstance (object, list)]) 25
Author: Paul Pogonyshev (_doublep)
Date: 2007-11-10 15:35
Meh, copied too much. Disregard first part, second shows it.
History
Date
User
Action
Args
2022-04-11 14:56:28
admin
set
github: 45746
2007-11-10 18:23:40
gvanrossum
set
status: open -> closed
resolution: not a bug
2007-11-10 15:35:38
_doublep
set
messages: +
2007-11-10 15:34:38
_doublep
set
messages: +
2007-11-09 19:29:22
gvanrossum
set
nosy: + gvanrossum
messages: +
2007-11-09 19:16:01
_doublep
set
nosy: + _doublep
messages: +
2007-11-09 18:56:04
christian.heimes
set
status: closed -> open
resolution: out of date -> (no value)
2007-11-09 18:51:11
pythonmeister
set
messages: +
versions: + Python 2.5
2007-11-08 17:30:00
christian.heimes
set
status: open -> closed
resolution: out of date
messages: +
nosy: + christian.heimes
2007-11-08 16:31:30
pythonmeister
create