[Xapian-discuss] value range in perl

[Olly Betts]

On Fri, Oct 26, 2007 at 04:40:50PM -0400, Jim Spath wrote:
> I'm a bit confused about the nature of the leak.
> 
> Do both of these leak in 1.0.2?
> 
> ====
> 
>   $qp->add_valuerangeprocessor(
>     new Search::Xapian::DateValueRangeProcessor(0)
>   );
> 
> ====
> 
>   my ($vrp, $qp);
>   [...]
>   $vrp = new Search::Xapian::DateValueRangeProcessor(0);
>   $qp->add_valuerangeprocessor($vrp);

Yes - any ValueRangeProcessor object passed to
QueryParser::add_valuerangeprocessor() currently gets its reference
count bumped, so won't get deleted.  Stopper objects get the same
treatment.

I realise this isn't ideal, but it seems the best short term option
as several people were bitten by calling new inline like the first
example.  If there's a consensus that leaking is worse, I'm happy
to change this back.

There are two ways I can see to address this properly - one is to keep a
reference to any perl ValueRangeProcessor objects passed to
QueryParser::add_valuerangeprocessor() in each perl QueryParser object.

The other is to fix this in the C++ API - this issue also occurs for
the other language bindings, and it's an annoyance in C++ too, so this
seems the best place to address this, but that will involve API changes
so would have to wait until 1.1.0.  We haven't yet discussed a date
for 1.1.0 yet, but I'd guess it's likely to be some time in the first
half of next year.

Given infinite resources we'd of course fix it the perl-specific way in
the meantime, but sadly we have to prioritise.  But if you (or anyone
else) don't mind getting your hands dirty with a bit of XS wrangling, a
patch would certainly be most welcome.

Cheers,
    Olly