PHP 4.0 Bug #9477 Updated: Object is destroyed before references all released

ID: 9477 User Update by: passionplay@hotmail.com Old-Status: Feedback Status: Open Bug Type: Scripting Engine problem Description: Object is destroyed before references all released I'm really getting tired of this. I guess what I REALLY needed to do is strip out the do nothing functions in the skeletons I had on that page because even though they were base classes, everyone was missing the point. Here is the simplest case that generates an error. Anyone want to take a stab at why it happens? <?php class obj { var $array; // Assigns object reference to the associative array function test($name,$obj){$this->array[$name]=&$obj;} // Removes the reference from the associative, supposedly // but what it does decrease the actual object to nothing function junk($name){$this->array[$name]="";} // If I do it this way it works. The object isn't nuked. // What gives? Do I *HAVE* to use =&$ when assigning refs? // Is there an array function that can be used to simply // remove the array element out, w/o expensive copying? function nojunk($name){$t="";$this->array[$name]=&$t;} }; // Our do nothing class. class me{ function test(){echo "Hello, I'm still valid\n";} }; // Please don't tell me not to send the reference to the // object because I need to have only one copy of the object // and not a million of them especially since these objects // might be opening files and sockets. $m=& new me(); $o=& new obj(); // This section works $o->test("test",&$m); $m->test(); $o->nojunk("test"); $m->test(); // This section fails.... $o->test("test",&$m); $m->test(); $o->junk("test"); // Right here $m->test(); ?> So? What's the deal? Once you assign a reference to a variable, you're done? You can't ever reassign the reference? Does what I'm proposing make sense syntactically speaking? I want the array to contain the reference to the object, but then I want to be able to unassign the reference from the array so that that particular object doesn't get used. An unregistration as it were. Previous Comments: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2001-03-08 17:24:46] andre@php.net > Did I miss anything in helping debug this issue or did I > just do too much? you did the wrong thing! the following passage is the only one I have read, I have not visited your site, nor anything else (we simply do not have the time to do this kind of things, it's exactly the same in any bigger OS project I know of (eg. bugzilla, provide minimized testcases or your bug will never be fixed) <quote> Bottom line: global object passed as a reference to a method and then assigned to an array which is a member of another object. The second object is then requested to delete the reference to global object. At the moment the reference in the array is deleted, the global object goes kaboom too. </quote> what I have done then, is creating PHP source reading the words above: function foo (&$foo) { $zoo->array['foo']=&$foo; unset($zoo->array['foo']); // simplified } $foo->test=TRUE; foo($foo); var_dump($foo); *** This is works for me and this is how we expect code snipplets, feel free to modify it to match exactly your problem... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2001-03-08 16:55:04] passionplay@hotmail.com a) The comment I got in my eyes said there was nothing that was looked at. b) I do open source work too. c) I have tried over and over in the past to get things included in php that were overlooked for almost 3 years until they finally got put in. Specifically detecting the different datatypes that some of the databases generate as field types. d) The URL I gave has a total of 4 files. 2 source files. And to active scripts that when run, generate the results. e) The one marked Normal, which completes with no errors, is obviously correct. f) The other one fails. g) There is only one line difference in the entire code. i) I have a global object passed by reference that is then assigned to an array. j) When this object reference in the array is set to nothing, the global object is destroyed. k) If on the other hand I use a separate array to identify what array elements are defunt, the object still exists. l) If you ran the non-normal script by clicking on it, it would report the line where the error occurred. m) In my scripts, which unfortunately are part of another open source project, I have VERY CLEARLY marked the section of the code that is different in each instance. o) If someone is wading through 313 lines of code to find my bug, then they really didn't think to click on the script, and I guess THAT is truly my REAL error as I did not specify that I had set up two identical scripts with one line that is different such that one completes and the other fails using the same algorithm, with one minor difference. p) I'm just wondering whether anyone tried clicking on the scripts and saw what I indicated or looked at the script in detail long enough to look at the offending line and the demarcated difference in each case. q) If my comments were interpreted as abusive, I apologize, but understand that when I have taken all the steps outlined and someone still tells me they cannot reproduce the behavior, or they cannot understand it, it tells me they didn't look at the problem. Had someone simply said, I don't understand what's different, I wouldn't have felt like no one gave a damn to even look at my bug report and had dropped it. r) In the past my bug reports have been accompanied by no less than a full source code solution to the error discovered and you'll have to pardon my disillusionment in providing a solution where my answers are obviously ignored regardless of whether they are correct or not. Bottom line: global object passed as a reference to a method and then assigned to an array which is a member of another object. The second object is then requested to delete the reference to global object. At the moment the reference in the array is deleted, the global object goes kaboom too. You can see this in the scripts at that URL because I have each object serialized as output prior to the error line as well as each object reporting it's operation so you can see where things are running. Did I miss anything in helping debug this issue or did I just do too much? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2001-03-08 16:16:36] torben@php.net I'm sure the bugs are very obvious to you. However, your bug report, as given, really is pretty useless. Salient information would include: what results were you expecting, compared to the results you got? What, exactly, did not work as you expected? And when we say 'short' script, we really mean 'short'. Can you provide a quick, obvious, and hopefully <= 25-50 line script which demonstrates what's bothering you? Many PHP developers work on PHP in their free time, and attempting to dig through 313 lines of someone else's code--when you have only given a vague idea of what we're supposed to be looking for--is unlikely to get high on anyone's priority list. Especially not when you get sarcastic and abusive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2001-03-08 08:30:48] passionplay@hotmail.com Come on guys. Read the damn bug report. I sent you a complete URL with scripts that generate the problem even. Is it really that hard to follow????????? If you read the bug report and went to the URL you would have seen the scripts that generated the problem. How hard is that? You can even see the output from the bug. Shall we try this again? I will clarify in case you missed it the first time. GO TO THE URL LISTED. THERE YOU WILL FIND THE SHORT SCRIPT THAT GENERATES THE PROBLEM. YOU WILL ALSO SEE RESULT FILES THAT DESCRIBE THE ERROR IN DETAIL. ONCE YOU HAVE LOOKED THERE, COME AND ASK ME AGAIN TO CLARIFY. THANKS. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [2001-03-08 06:43:10] stas@php.net Could you please describe more in detail what the problem is and provide a short scipt reproducing the behaviour? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online. Full Bug description available at: http://bugs.php.net/?id=9477