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How can C++ object lifetimes be correctly managed in Cython?

Asked 2010-12-21T17:10:13.247
20

When writing a Cython wrapper for a C++ library, I've encountered a case where it's not clear how to correctly decide when to delete certain C++ instances.

The C++ library looks something like this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

class Widget {
    char *name;
    public:
        Widget() : name(strdup("a widget")) {}
        ~Widget() { printf("Widget destruct\n"); }
        void foo() { printf("Widget::foo %s\n", this->name); }
};

class Sprocket {
    private:
        Widget *important;

    public:
        Sprocket(Widget* important) : important(important) {}
        ~Sprocket() { important->foo(); }
};

An important aspect of this library is that the Sprocket destructor uses the Widget* it was given, so the Widget must not be destroyed until after the Sprocket has been.

The Cython wrapper I've written looks like this:

cdef extern from "somelib.h":
    cdef cppclass Widget:
        pass

    cdef cppclass Sprocket:
        Sprocket(Widget*)


cdef class PyWidget:
    cdef Widget *thisptr

    def __init__(self):
        self.thisptr = new Widget()

    def __dealloc__(self):
        print 'PyWidget dealloc'
        del self.thisptr


cdef class PySprocket:
    cdef PyWidget widget
    cdef Sprocket *thisptr

    def __init__(self, PyWidget widget):
        self.widget = widget
        self.thisptr = new Sprocket(self.widget.thisptr)


    def __dealloc__(self):
        print 'PySprocket dealloc with widget', self.widget
        del self.thisptr

After building the Python build like this:

$ cython --cplus somelib.pyx 
$ g++ -I/usr/include/python2.6 -L/usr/lib somelib.cpp -shared -o somelib.so
$

In the trivial case, it appears to work:

$ python -c 'from somelib import PyWidget, PySprocket
spr = PySprocket(PyWidget())
del spr
'
PySprocket dealloc with wid
c++ python memory cython
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1 Answer

6
cdef extern from "somelib.h":
    cdef cppclass Widget:
        pass

    cdef cppclass Sprocket:
        Sprocket(Widget*)


cdef class PyWidget:
    cdef Widget *thisptr
    cdef set    sprockets

    def __init__(self):
        self.thisptr = new Widget()
        self.sprockets = set()

    def __dealloc__(self):
        print 'PyWidget dealloc'
        #PyWidget knows the sprockets and notifies them on destroy
        sprockets_to_dealloc = self.sprockets.copy()
        #with this solution spr items can call back to detach
        for spr in sprockets_to_dealloc:
          del spr
        del self.thisptr

    def attach(PySprocket spr):
        print 'PySprocket attach'
        self.sprockets.add(spr)

    def detach(PySprocket spr):
        print 'PySprocket detach'
        self.sprockets.remove(spr)

cdef class PySprocket:
    cdef PyWidget widget
    cdef Sprocket *thisptr

    def __init__(self, PyWidget widget):
        self.thisptr = new Sprocket(widget.thisptr)
        #You should be sure here that the widget exists
        widget.attach(self)
        self.widget = widget

    def __dealloc__(self):
        self.widget.detach(self)
        del self.thisptr

I come back a bit later to check what I have wrote, cause I'm quite tired, but here is what matters: The point is that you want to notify Sprockets when destroying Widget, and vice versa.

It is a general solution, can be tuned up.

You have to include error handling also, I have skipped that absolutely. Nothing to do with garbage collector, there was a design problem in your code.

EDIT: these codes are equialent:
A

class BadWidget(PyWidget):
    pass
widget = BadWidget()
sprocket = PySprocket(widget)
widget.cycle = sprocket ###1
del widget ###2
del sprocket

B

class BadWidget(PyWidget):
    pass
widget = BadWidget()
sprocket = PySprocket(widget)
sprocket.widget.cycle = sprocke
answered 2010-12-30T05:15:27.690

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