[Python-Dev] Discussion related to memory leaks requested

[Petr Viktorin]

On 01/14/2016 10:45 AM, Nick Coghlan wrote:
> On 14 January 2016 at 15:42, Benjamin Peterson <benjamin at python.org> wrote:
>> This is a "well-known" issue. Parts of the interpreter (and especially,
>> extension modules) cheerfully stash objects in global variables with no
>> way to clean them up. Fixing this is a large project, which probably
>> involves implementing PEP 489.
> 
> The actual multi-phase extension module import system from 489 was
> implemented for 3.5, but indeed, the modules with stashed global state
> haven't been converted yet.

The hairy details on why the global variables haven't yet gone away are
on import-sig [0]. Nick suggested a workable solution there that I
really need to go back to and implement.

[0] https://mail.python.org/pipermail/import-sig/2015-July/001022.html