> This works, but I'm not sure if PyString...() really makes a new copy of > the data (ellowing me to use free())
See the documentation: http://docs.python.org/c-api/string.html#PyString_FromString # Return a new string object with a *copy* of the string v as value > Another example (all on the C side of things) is a function where I > build a dictionary from a set of keys, putting PyNone into each value > (Py_INCREF()ing PyNone each time). Assuming you use PyDict_SetItem(String): you shouldn't INCREF Py_None; the SetItem will itself incref the value (and decref any old value that might be already stored under that key). The only exception where you, as a caller, have to INCREF is when the reference is documented as "stolen"; very few API functions steal references. > At another point some of the values > are replaced by other PyObjects. At first I used PyDECREF() on each > value before setting the new value, but that botched up the dictionary > beyond repair. Without the PyDECREF() calls everything worked fine. See above. > Now to my actual question: Is there some sort of debugging tool that I > could use to analyze my code to see if everything gets properly > allocated and deallocated and if the reference counting works right? You should compile Python in pydebug mode; this will perform some additional checks each time. In addition, you can look at sys.getrefcount repeatedly. If you create a test that allocates stuff and then releases it, then sys.getrefcount should be unchanged. If it does change, you might have a reference leak. Regards, Martin -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
