Subj : Re: question: memory allocated by JS_Enumerate().
To   : netscape.public.mozilla.jseng
From : jp
Date : Fri May 06 2005 08:34 pm

Brendan Eich wrote:
> jp wrote:
> 
>>
>>>> 2. It seems, if I don't use JS_DestroyIdArray() to release the 
>>>> pointer, the memory will not be released even after I destroy the 
>>>> context and runtime. Is that true?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> just curious, why did you decide that this pointer not being managed 
>> by runtime?
> 
> 
> 
> The JS GC is not "conservative", it cannot magically tell when you are 
> done using an arbitrary piece of memory.  It handles only certain 
> well-aligned allocations, and it marks them starting from a set of 
> "roots", which you must supplement when your embedding holds pointers to 
> GC-things in C or C++ data structures in the malloc heap and in static 
> memory.
> 
> The manually allocated data structures are used in a LIFO fashion, most 
> of the time, so it is not a great hardship to require that they be freed 
> or destroyed by hand.
> 
> /be
could you tell me where I can find more detailed info (any reading or a 
particular piece of code) on the GC mechanism used by SM. Since our code 
will heavily use SM, i want to know it better.

.