Hey,
Here's a Valgrind backtrace: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- ==97844== Thread 17: ==97844== Invalid read of size 4 ==97844== at 0x114465B9: zmq::msg_t::close() (in /gnu/store/zd9lbfqa3170nsfd4177dnr38k1sjbnc-zeromq-4.3.4/lib/libzmq.so.5.2.4) ==97844== by 0x3A58E98F: ??? ==97844== by 0x489AC78: chained_finalizer (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x49A16EE: GC_invoke_finalizers (in /gnu/store/iycnpxxrg8m9wf9w58d6zvp9sdby6m9d-libgc-7.6.12/lib/libgc.so.1.3.6) ==97844== by 0x489AF08: scm_run_finalizers (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x489AF8C: finalization_thread_proc (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x488BB09: c_body (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x4913148: vm_regular_engine (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x49145B4: scm_call_n (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x4890BB9: scm_call_2 (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x48923B9: scm_c_with_exception_handler (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== by 0x4909C3C: scm_c_catch (in /gnu/store/q8brh7j5mwy0hbrly6hjb1m3wwndxqc8-guile-3.0.5/lib/libguile-3.0.so.1.3.0) ==97844== Address 0x7373313569316263 is not stack'd, malloc'd or (recently) free'd --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- It looks like the finalizer is operating on a memory region that has already been free'd. The documentation associated with the finalization functions in <gc.h> says: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- /* When obj is no longer accessible, invoke */ /* (*fn)(obj, cd). If a and b are inaccessible, and */ /* a points to b (after disappearing links have been */ /* made to disappear), then only a will be */ --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- As far as I understand, OBJ is the wrapped pointer to the bytevector created in "zmq-msg-init". There's a weak reference between the pointer and the bytevector that is introduced by "register_weak_reference" in "bytevector->pointer". My interrogation is: do I have the guarantee that the pointer and its references are still readable from within the finalizer? The above snippet says that FN is invoked when OBJ is unaccessible, but does this mean its content may have already been collected? Cc'ing Ludo :) Thanks, Mathieu