GC In Python: YAS (Yet Another Summary)

[Tim Peters]

[Tim, in a thread about BDW-style conservative GC]
> ...
> Python could use its own malloc for its own objects (& Vladimir
> Marangozov has written a very nice PyMalloc, available from his
> Starship page), but that breaks down as soon as any extension has
> its own view of how to get memory.

[Vladimir Himself]
> I can't let you say this (heh, it's too late ;-) because you seem to
> overlook one of the nicest features of pymalloc. If the extension module
> works in current Python + libc malloc, it will work with Python +
> pymalloc because of the dynamic block management.
> ...

Hmm!  I at least agree I didn't say what I meant <wink>.

I realized PyMalloc plays peacefully with other mallocs as-is.  What "breaks
down" is extension to BDW-style GC, where the collector wants to perform
everybody's allocations.  IOW, PyMalloc pushes a Python-specific allocation
scheme as far as it's ever likely to go, but that falls short of what BDW
requires.

You're not required to solve this.  Heck, you're not even encouraged to view
it as "a problem" <wink>.

plenty-of-others-will-ly y'rs  - tim