How to check for memory leaks in Guile expansion modules

Question

I am developing an extension module for Guile written in C. This extension module includes a Python interpreter.

Since this extension module calls the Python interpreter, I need to make sure that it correctly manages the memory occupied by Python objects.

I found that the Python interpreter behaves well in its own memory handling, so by running valgrind I can find memory leaks due to errors in my own Python interpreter injection code if there are no other interfering factors.

However, when I run Guile under valgrind, valgrind reports memory leaks. Such memory leaks hide any memory leaks due to my own code.

The question is what can I do to separate memory leaks due to errors in my code from memory leaks reported by valgrind due to Guile. Another tool instead of valgrind? Special valgrind options? Stop using manual code?

Answer 1

You have a couple of options. One of them is to write a supressions file for valgrind that disables the report of materials you are not working on. Python has a file like this: http://svn.python.org/projects/python/trunk/Misc/valgrind-python.supp

If valgrind doesn't like your setup, another option uses libmudflap ; you compile your program with gcc -fmudflap -lmudflap , and the resulting code will be used to debug the pointer. Described in gcc docs and here: http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/Mudflap_Pointer_Debugging