classification
Title: sys.getsizeof wrong for Py3k bool objects
Type: behavior Stage:
Components: Interpreter Core Versions: Python 3.1, Python 3.0
process
Status: open Resolution:
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: Nosy List: loewis, schuppenies
Priority: Keywords: patch

Created on 2008-08-26 20:52 by schuppenies, last changed 2008-09-23 13:19 by schuppenies.

Files
File name Uploaded Description Edit Remove
bool_sizeof.patch schuppenies, 2008-08-26 20:52 Patch against py3k branch, revision 66040
smallints_sizeof.patch schuppenies, 2008-09-23 13:19
Messages
msg71996 (view) Author: Robert Schuppenies (schuppenies) Date: 2008-08-26 20:52
sys.getsizeof returns wrong results for bool objects in Python 3000.
Although bool objects use the same datatype as long objects, they are
allocated differently. Thus, the inherited long_sizeof implementation is
incorrect. The applied patch addresses this issue.
msg72742 (view) Author: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) Date: 2008-09-07 16:45
I'm not sure this is a bug. sys.getsizeof doesn't take padding in the
malloc implementation into account, either, so a long object that
accounts to 22 bytes (such as the number 1) uses at least 24 bytes,
also. In any case, I also think this doesn't matter much either way.
msg73208 (view) Author: Robert Schuppenies (schuppenies) Date: 2008-09-14 10:12
As I understood the long object allocation it is implemented as
"PyObject_MALLOC(sizeof(PyVarObject) + size*sizeof(digit))" to avoid
this allocation of extra 2 bytes. So from my understanding, the number 0
allocates memory for the reference count, type, and ob_size, whereas any
other number allocates this plus additional memory required by the
number of digits.

Looking at bool objects in Py3k, arn't they fixed-sized memory-wise,
always allocating the the padded size of _longobject?

> In any case, I also think this doesn't matter much either way. 
Why do you think so?
msg73228 (view) Author: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) Date: 2008-09-14 16:23
>> In any case, I also think this doesn't matter much either way. 
> Why do you think so?

What's the actual difference that this change makes? At most 8
bytes per object, right? And for two objects in total. So if somebody
would compute memory consumption, they might be off by not more
than 14 bytes, in total. Compared to all the other errors that memory
computation makes (e.g. malloc headers, rounding-up to multiples of
8 in obmalloc) which aren't accounted-for in sys.getsizeof, this
difference is negligible.

What's more, the small_ints aren't dynamically allocated, either,
but instead, each small_int takes a complete PyLongObject. If
that was also considered in long_sizeof, the computation would happen
to be completely correct for bool also.
msg73250 (view) Author: Robert Schuppenies (schuppenies) Date: 2008-09-15 08:12
> What's the actual difference that this change makes?

It would provide more accurate results, even in the light of being not
perfect.

> [..] each small_int takes a complete PyLongObject. If that was also
> considered in long_sizeof, the computation would happen to be
> completely correct for bool also.

So how should this bug report be handled? Provide a patch to handle
getsizeof correctly for small_ints? 'wont fix' because there are issues
anyway? I would prefer the former and try to come up with a patch if you
think it is worthwhile.
msg73252 (view) Author: Martin v. Löwis (loewis) Date: 2008-09-15 09:44
> So how should this bug report be handled? Provide a patch to handle
> getsizeof correctly for small_ints? 'wont fix' because there are issues
> anyway? I would prefer the former and try to come up with a patch if you
> think it is worthwhile.

Fixing it for small_ints would be fine with me - there is specialized
code for long sizeof already. It's the explosion of boolobject that I
dislike.
msg73634 (view) Author: Robert Schuppenies (schuppenies) Date: 2008-09-23 13:19
Attached is a patch which takes the preallocation of small_ints into
account. What do you think?
History
Date User Action Args
2008-09-23 13:19:04schuppeniessetfiles: + smallints_sizeof.patch
messages: + msg73634
2008-09-15 09:44:29loewissetmessages: + msg73252
2008-09-15 08:12:01schuppeniessetmessages: + msg73250
2008-09-14 16:23:01loewissetmessages: + msg73228
2008-09-14 10:12:25schuppeniessetmessages: + msg73208
2008-09-07 16:45:02loewissetnosy: + loewis
messages: + msg72742
2008-08-26 20:52:02schuppeniescreate