[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #39461] clear'ing a mex files doesn't dlclose() it.

[anonymous]

URL:
  <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?39461>

                 Summary: clear'ing a mex files doesn't dlclose() it.
                 Project: GNU Octave
            Submitted by: None
            Submitted on: Wed 10 Jul 2013 09:03:25 PM UTC
                Category: Interpreter
                Severity: 3 - Normal
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: Incorrect Result
                  Status: None
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: Mario Kleiner
        Originator Email: address@hidden
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                 Release: 3.6.1
        Operating System: Any

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Details:

Hi,

when i clear an octave oct function, the corresponding .oct shared library
file gets dlclose()'ed by octaves loader. When i clear an octave mex function,
the corresponding .mex shared library gets its mexAtExit() function called as
expected, but dlclose() is not called on it. I checked this via setting a
breakpoint on dlclose() with gdb attached to octave and looking at the stack
trace.

The problem here is that if a mex file function is called again after a clear,
the corresponding shared library won't get reloaded from the filesystem. This
means that if the mex file was recompiled inbetween, changes won't apply,
which makes development cumbersome. More importantly if the mex file has
static variables defined, they won't get cleared to startup defaults, e.g., a

static bool firstTime = true;

will not get reinitialized properly.

This causes unexpected behaviour for my users and/or crashes of the mex file
when calling it after a previous clear.

Thanks,
-mario




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