I’m trying to prove two simple facts about how Ruby works:
- Ruby can GC a Thread that has run to completion if you no longer
have any references to it, even if the value() have never been collected
- Ruby cannot GC a running Thread, even if there are no references to it
Some new code I have relies on these truths. Simple scripts I’ve
written seems to indicate they are accurate, but I would love to hear
from someone who knows these to be true, or untrue.
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
James Edward G. II
On Feb 10, 2009, at 4:51 PM, James G. wrote:
I’m trying to prove two simple facts about how Ruby works:
- Ruby can GC a Thread that has run to completion if you no longer
have any references to it, even if the value() have never been
collected
- Ruby cannot GC a running Thread, even if there are no references
to it
Simple scripts I’ve written seems to indicate they are accurate…
Actually, this is difficult to judge. For example, this script has
odd results on my machine. The Thread count does drop, but not all
the way:
#!/usr/bin/env ruby -wKU
def show_thread_count
count = 0
ObjectSpace.each_object(Thread) { |obj| count += 1 }
p count
end
show_thread_count
5.times do
Thread.new do
date = sleep 1 && date
end
end
20.times do
sleep 0.2
3.times { GC.start }
show_thread_count
end
END
Here’s a pretty typical output, though it varies a little:
$ ruby testing_thread_gc.rb
1
6
6
6
6
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Thoughts?
James Edward G. II
James G. wrote:
def show_thread_count
count = 0
ObjectSpace.each_object(Thread) { |obj| count += 1 }
p count
end
Btw, this is the same as
def show_thread_count
p ObjectSpace.each_object(Thread) {}
end
James G. wrote:
- Ruby can GC a Thread that has run to completion if you no longer
have any references to it, even if the value() have never been collected
Not sure.
- Ruby cannot GC a running Thread, even if there are no references to it
Unfortunately, this part is true, as Ruby has not solved the Halting
Problem.
It might be possible to collect a thread if you have very specific
knowledge about when it is no longer needed. The hack I’ve been playing
with lately is to have all access to the thread be through a specific
object or set of objects, and reap the thread in the finalizer(s) of
those object(s).
The part I haven’t solved is circular references – anything one thread
has a reference to can’t be collected as long as that thread is running,
so if thread A knows about thread B, which also knows about thread A,
they will have to be manually cleaned, even if that knowledge is purely
through such proxy objects.
Oh – the above rambling might make sense in context. I’m writing an
actor library. I can picture a state where a collection of actors should
be collected, as they’re all out of messages and only referred to by
each other – but while I theoretically should be able to write a
garbage collector for that, I can’t figure out how to do it in Ruby
without at least writing a C extension.
On Feb 10, 2009, at 6:25 PM, David M. wrote:
James G. wrote:
- Ruby can GC a Thread that has run to completion if you no longer
have any references to it, even if the value() have never been
collected
Not sure.
It seems this is at least somewhat true. See the script I posted
earlier in this thread for an example. I would love to know why it
can’t totally clear them in that example though.
- Ruby cannot GC a running Thread, even if there are no references
to it
Unfortunately, this part is true, as Ruby has not solved the Halting
Problem.
Well, it happens to help me in this case, so I’ll call it a bonus. 
James Edward G. II