[python-win32] gc does not free memory

[TK Soh]

I am trying to understand Python's garbage collection mechanism. I
have a long running program (actually a shell extension) that needs to
allocate large arrays occasionally, which I'd del after use, then call
gc.collect() to collect them. But although gc.get_objects() reported
the arrays have been collected (also confirmed they didn't end up in
gc.garbage), but the memory footprint (VM size) remain the same, as if
the memory was never freed and return to heap.

Appreciate if anyone can help shed some light on this. Google didn't
hit much useful websites on this topic. FYI, I am using ActivePython
2.5 on XP SP2. Thanks.