From: Ryan Bates <ryan@...>
Date: 2008-09-20T02:12:30+09:00
Subject: Re: IRB + C Extension = Memory Loss

Thanks! That makes sense. Calling rb_gc_mark(*hello->greeting) in the
hello_mark method works.

On a related note. What if I need to re-assign greeting to a new
string at some point in the future after hello_mark has been called.
Should I call rb_gc_mark upon assignment (outside of hello_mark)?

Regards,

Ryan


On Sep 19, 10:00 am, Tim Hunter <rmag...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ryan Bates wrote:
> > I'm having difficult making a simple C extension. The struct's memory
> > seems to go missing after a while when using IRB. I'm no C expert, so
> > I'm probably doing something wrong as far as memory allocation is
> > concerned. Here's the problem and the code:
>
> >http://gist.github.com/11611
>
> > Notice the greeting goes away after calling "h.greet" a number of
> > times? This only seems to happen in IRB and not through a ruby script.
> > Any idea why? I'm assuming it has something to do with Ruby's garbage
> > collection, but I don't know how to solve it.
>
> > Thanks,
>
> > Ryan
>
> GC is collecting the greeting string because it thinks there are no
> references to it. Your hello_mark function needs to identify the
> greeting string object as "in use". From the Pickaxe:
>
> "The mark routine will be called by the garbage collector during its
> ``mark'' phase. If your structure references other Ruby objects, then
> your mark function needs to identify these objects using
> rb_gc_mark(value)."
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.