the instance is still in existence, but there are no references to it. The
destructor function should free all references which the instance owns, free all
memory buffers owned by the instance (using the freeing function corresponding
- to the allocation function used to allocate the buffer), and finally (as its
- last action) call the type's :c:member:`~PyTypeObject.tp_free` function. If the type is not
- subtypable (doesn't have the :const:`Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE` flag bit set), it is
+ to the allocation function used to allocate the buffer), and call the type's
+ :c:member:`~PyTypeObject.tp_free` function. If the type is not subtypable
+ (doesn't have the :const:`Py_TPFLAGS_BASETYPE` flag bit set), it is
permissible to call the object deallocator directly instead of via
:c:member:`~PyTypeObject.tp_free`. The object deallocator should be the one used to allocate the
instance; this is normally :c:func:`PyObject_Del` if the instance was allocated
:c:func:`PyObject_GC_Del` if the instance was allocated using
:c:func:`PyObject_GC_New` or :c:func:`PyObject_GC_NewVar`.
+ Finally, if the type is heap allocated (:const:`Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE`), the
+ deallocator should decrement the reference count for its type object after
+ calling the type deallocator. In order to avoid dangling pointers, the
+ recommended way to achieve this is:
+
+ .. code-block:: c
+
+ static void foo_dealloc(foo_object *self) {
+ PyTypeObject *tp = Py_TYPE(self);
+ // free references and buffers here
+ tp->tp_free(self);
+ Py_DECREF(tp);
+ }
+
+
**Inheritance:**
This field is inherited by subtypes.
.. data:: Py_TPFLAGS_HEAPTYPE
- This bit is set when the type object itself is allocated on the heap. In this
+ This bit is set when the type object itself is allocated on the heap, for
+ example, types created dynamically using :c:func:`PyType_FromSpec`. In this
case, the :attr:`ob_type` field of its instances is considered a reference to
the type, and the type object is INCREF'ed when a new instance is created, and
DECREF'ed when an instance is destroyed (this does not apply to instances of