GCJ 3.3 LEAKS Throwable & Derived Classes

Sat Nov 19 08:56:00 GMT 2005

David Daney writes:
 > Craig A. Vanderborgh wrote:
 > > Hello:
 > > 
 > > We have just uncovered a really horrible problem with GCJ 3.3, on 
 > > multiple platforms (x86 linux, arm-wince-pe, ARM/linux).
 > > 
 > > Instances of Throwable, and classes derived from it are leaked by 
 > > garbage collection, in the following way. The GC heap size is 
 > > unaffected, but the process virtual size/RSS reflects the leakage. Here 
 > > is a sample program that demonstrates the problem:
 > > 
 > > class Catcher {
 > > public static void main(String [] args) {
 > > System.out.println("now in main");
 > > 
 > > while (true) {
 > > Exception foo = new Exception();
 > > }
 > > }
 > > }
 > > 
 > 
 > Most likely PR 12475
 > 
 > The fix was applied to the 3.3 branch on 2004年06月22日 18:21 by bryce.
 > 
 > If you are using 3.3 you could probably safely upgrade to 3.3.6 which 
 > would include the patch.
More generally: minor point releases of the compiler are usually bug
fixes, so it's probably a good idea for everyone to use the most
recent release of 3.3.x.
Andrew.