[Python-Dev] No longer enable Py_TRACE_REFS by default in debug build

[Nathaniel Smith]

On Mon, Apr 15, 2019, 15:27 Michael Sullivan <sully at msully.net> wrote:

> > The main question is if anyone ever used Py_TRACE_REFS? Does someone
> > use sys.getobjects() or PYTHONDUMPREFS environment variable?
>
> I used sys.getobjects() today to track down a memory leak in the
> mypyc-compiled version of mypy.
>
> We were leaking memory badly but no sign of the leak was showing up in
> mypy's gc.get_objects() based profiler. Using a debug build and switching
> to sys.getobjects() showed that we were badly leaking int objects. A quick
> inspection of the values in question (large and random looking) suggested
> we were leaking hash values, and that quickly pointed me to
> https://github.com/mypyc/mypyc/pull/562.
>
> I don't have any strong feelings about whether to keep it in the "default"
> debug build, though. I was using a debug build that I built myself with
> every debug feature that seemed potentially useful.
>

This is mostly to satisfy my curiosity, so feel free to ignore: did you try
using address sanitizer or valgrind?

-n

>
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