From 44b3f76adf92afe937d9da5c27ebbe1036291a05 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Guido van Rossum Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 17:57:56 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] More info about the cycle detector. --- Doc/ext/extending.tex | 6 ++++-- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/Doc/ext/extending.tex b/Doc/ext/extending.tex index a0a044049e0..0051a0222f8 100644 --- a/Doc/ext/extending.tex +++ b/Doc/ext/extending.tex @@ -1248,10 +1248,12 @@ The cycle detector is able to detect garbage cycles and can reclaim them so long as there are no finalizers implemented in Python (\method{__del__()} methods). When there are such finalizers, the detector exposes the cycles through the \ulink{\module{gc} -module}{../lib/module-gc.html}. The \module{gc} module also exposes +module}{../lib/module-gc.html} (specifically, the \code{garbage} +variable in that module). The \module{gc} module also exposes a way +to run the detector (the \function{collect()} function), as well as configuration interfaces and the ability to disable the detector at runtime. The cycle detector is considered an optional component; -though it is included by default, it can be disabled at compile time +though it is included by default, it can be disabled at build time using the \longprogramopt{without-cycle-gc} option to the \program{configure} script on \UNIX{} platforms (including Mac OS X) or by removing the definition of \code{WITH_CYCLE_GC} in the