[Python-Dev] survey of extension module memory managment

[Fredrik Lundh]

Neil Schemenauer wrote:

> I randomly grabbed a bunch of extension modules by searching the
> python.org topic guides and by using Parnassus.  I looked at 20
> different packages.  12 of them implemented an extension type.  12 of
> them use the memory management API incorrectly and will break if
> pymalloc is enabled.   That's worse than I thought.

$ more Python-1.5.2/Objects/xxobject.c

...

static xxobject *
newxxobject(arg)
PyObject *arg;
{
    xxobject *xp;
    xp = PyObject_NEW(xxobject, &Xxtype);
    if (xp == NULL)
        return NULL;
    xp->x_attr = NULL;
    return xp;
}

/* Xx methods */
static void
xx_dealloc(xp)
xxobject *xp;
{
    Py_XDECREF(xp->x_attr);
    PyMem_DEL(xp);
}

...

it looked like this between 1994 and May 2000.

and as noted elsewhere, PyObject_DEL, PyObject_New, and
PyObject_Del don't exist in older versions.

</F>