destruction of cross-referenced objects

Hi, I'm struggling with the problem that cross-referenced objects don't get destroyed. I can off course write a method to break the cross-reference, but that's kind of a pain in the butt, especially if the cross-reference is not strait forward. To solve this I'm thinking of building one of 2 thing: 1.) Write a destroy() function which works much like a close function on a recourse, changing the object to a zval of type 'unknown'. 2.) Specify that a property of an object does not count for the reference count of a zval. 3.) Write code to find cross-references and destroy the objects still. The first solution should be quite easy to implement, but you need to call destroy() to free the object, introducing the whole alloc/free responsibility thing to PHP. The second solution would require some extra keyword within the class, but require no special code within the code using the object. Though I wouldn't have a clue how how to implement this or what would be the consequences. I don't think the third solution is really possible or would at least cause performance problems. I could use some comment on this problem. Or perhaps I'm just looking at it from a complete wrong angle. Thanks, Arnold PS. I don't want to start a 'cross-referencing is wrong' discussion. I use it, because it's useful in some occasions.