[Python-Dev] Coverity Scan

[Christian Heimes]

Am 26.07.2013 14:56, schrieb Eli Bendersky:
> Just a quick question - is there a chance to convince Coverity to detect
> Python refcounting leaks in C API code :-) ? This could be useful not
> only for Python but for extensions too. As it stands now, Coverity's
> leak detection is Python must be pretty weak because almost everything
> is done via PyObject refcounts.

Coverity is able to detect some cases of refcount leaks. I don't know if
the software is able to keep track of all reference counts. But it
understands missing Py_DECREF() in error branches.

For example:

PyObject *n = PyLong_FromLong(0);
PyObject *u = PyUnicode_FromString("example");

if (u == NULL) {
    return NULL;
    /* Coverity detects that 'n' leaks memory */
}

Christian