unloading extension library

[Fredrik Lundh]

Bill Pursell wrote:

>>>> del sys.modules["spam"]
>>>> del spam
> 
> Should remove all the references, but I still don't want to wait for
> garbage collection.  I need to be sure that the dlclose() happens
> and the destructors are called.  Can I do that? (without relying
> on ctypes, preferrably.)

in general, no.  Python's not C++; you cannot rely on the garbage 
collector to release resources at a given time (or to release them at 
all, for that matter).

if you want to tear down an object or a module in a reliable fashion, 
you need to provide an API for that purpose.

</F>