Getting the reference count

[Tim Peters]

> Is it possible to get the reference count of a PyObject* object?
> I'm surre it must be, but I can't see it documented anywhere.
>
> Something similar to Perl's SvREFCNT() Macro would be great.

All Python objects share a common format "at the start", including space for
the refcount, and the few places refcounts are looked at raw simply
reference the ob_refcnt field directly.  For example,

    assert(v->ob_refcnt == 1);

Note that incrementing or decrementing refcounts should always be done via
the macros defined for those purposes in object.h; it's rare to do anything
else with the refcounts.

omnipresent-yet-rarely-seen-ly y'rs  - tim