From: "Ara.T.Howard" <Ara.T.Howard@...>
Date: 2004-09-23T10:14:58+09:00
Subject: DrbUndumped and GC


if one has a drb server that returns objects extended by DrbUndumped to the
client, how is garbage collection done?  eg.


   class Proxy
     include DrbUndumped
   end

   class Server
     def method
       return Proxy::new
     end
   end

so the client will have a handle on the Proxy, and so will the client.  how
will the server know when the client no longer needs the handle and gc the
object?  POLS says the object would be gc'd in the client as normal and that
this would trigger the gc on the server.  but what if more than one client has
a handle on the server side proxy?  now we are reference counting across
remote nodes.  my gut says this could get one in trouble quickly if many
DrbUndumped objects were being returned to many clients, or even if a single
DrbUndumped object was returned to many clients...

i'm about to dig into the code and run some tests to see - but am hoping some
of you drb experts out there may already have done this ;-)

regards.

-a
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