Fix leak detected in python.c initialization code.

Valgrind reports the below leak.
Make the variable progname_copy static, so that Valgrind continues
to find a pointer to the memory given to Python.
Note that the comment in do_start_initialization and the Python documentation
indicates that the progname given to Py_SetProgramName cannot be freed.
However, in Python 3.7.4, Py_SetProgramName does:
void
Py_SetProgramName(const wchar_t *program_name)
{
    ...
    PyMem_RawFree(_Py_path_config.program_name);
    _Py_path_config.program_name = _PyMem_RawWcsdup(program_name);

So, it looks like 3.7.4 Python duplicates its argument, which explains
the leak found by Valgrind.
It looks better to respect the doc and not have GDB freeing the string
given to Py_SetProgramName, and avoid the leak error by declaring
the progname_copy static.
This will work with Python versions that really use this string without
duplicating it, and avoids a leak report for Python version that duplicates
it.

==4023== 200 bytes in 1 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 4,545 of 7,116^M
==4023==    at 0x4C29F33: malloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:307)^M
==4023==    by 0x446D27: xmalloc (alloc.c:60)^M
==4023==    by 0x657C77: do_start_initialization (python.c:1610)^M
==4023==    by 0x657C77: _initialize_python() (python.c:1823)^M
==4023==    by 0x75FE24: initialize_all_files() (init.c:231)^M
==4023==    by 0x708A94: gdb_init(char*) (top.c:2242)^M
==4023==    by 0x5E7460: captured_main_1 (main.c:857)^M
==4023==    by 0x5E7460: captured_main (main.c:1161)^M
==4023==    by 0x5E7460: gdb_main(captured_main_args*) (main.c:1186)^M
==4023==    by 0x4122D4: main (gdb.c:32)^M

gdb/ChangeLog
2019-09-09  Philippe Waroquiers  <philippe.waroquiers@skynet.be>

	* python/python.c (do_start_initialization): Make progname_copy static,
	to avoid a leak report.

diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index af1608db9a95f9485fec24fdb8bebf6b874ad4c7..eb6d06281212c99308d5efa4d04edf3593b6643f 100644 (file)
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2019-09-09  Philippe Waroquiers  <philippe.waroquiers@skynet.be>
+
+       * python/python.c (do_start_initialization): Make progname_copy static,
+       to avoid a leak report.
+
 2019-09-08  Tom Tromey  <tom@tromey.com>
 
        * tui/tui-wingeneral.c (box_win): Truncate long window titles.

diff --git a/gdb/python/python.c b/gdb/python/python.c
index b309ae91baa6b62b22ba6b409d5b38632ea42bc1..9c49151db38655b54e56ec387faffc2d04e178dd 100644 (file)
--- a/gdb/python/python.c
+++ b/gdb/python/python.c
@@ -1590,7 +1590,14 @@ do_start_initialization ()
 {
 #ifdef IS_PY3K
   size_t progsize, count;
-  wchar_t *progname_copy;
+  /* Python documentation indicates that the memory given
+     to Py_SetProgramName cannot be freed.  However, it seems that
+     at least Python 3.7.4 Py_SetProgramName takes a copy of the
+     given program_name.  Making progname_copy static and not release
+     the memory avoids a leak report for Python versions that duplicate
+     program_name, and respect the requirement of Py_SetProgramName
+     for Python versions that do not duplicate program_name.  */
+  static wchar_t *progname_copy;
 #endif
 
 #ifdef WITH_PYTHON_PATH