[Python-Dev] C API for gc.enable() and gc.disable()

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> It seems to me that the root problem is allocation spikes of legitimate,
> useful data. Perhaps then we need some sort of "test" to determine if
> those are legitimate. Perhaps checking every nth (with n decreasing as
> allocation bytes increases) object allocated during a "spike" could be
> useful. Then delay garbage collection until x consecutive objects are
> found to be garbage?
> 
> It seems like we should be attacking the root cause rather than finding
> some convoluted math that attempts to work for all scenarios.

I think exactly the other way 'round. The timing of thing should not
matter at all, only the exact sequence of allocations and deallocations.

I trust provable maths much more than I trust ad-hoc heuristics, even
if you think the math is convoluted.

> On a side note, the information about not GCing on string objects is
> interesting? Is there a way to override this behavior?

I think you misunderstand. Python releases unused string objects just
fine, and automatically. It doesn't even need GC for that.

Regards,
Martin