I've been using the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel module to extract information out of ~2000 excel files, and I've found what I believe to be a memory leak in that module. Code that (I believe) demonstrates the problem: 

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;
use Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;
use Devel::Leak;

my $handle;
my $num_vars = Devel::Leak::NoteSV($handle);

{
        my $filename = "9000.xls";
        my $oExcel = new Spreadsheet::ParseExcel;
        die "No excel obj\n" unless $oExcel;
        my $oBook  = $oExcel->Parse($filename);
        unless($oBook) {
                die "Parsing of file $filename failed: $!\n";
        }
}

my $new_num_vars = Devel::Leak::CheckSV($handle);

[download]

Because that code prints out a lot of information about variables (example below with apologies for duplicated code tags), I believe there's a memory leak in Spreadsheet::ParseExcel. If I change the code above to a simple for() loop within the same naked block, then I don't get any output. 

new 0x8152d54 : SV = PVGV(0x852b8a0) at 0x8152d54
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (GMG,SMG,MULTI)
  IV = 0
  NV = 0
  MAGIC = 0x852b910
    MG_VIRTUAL = &PL_vtbl_glob
    MG_TYPE = PERL_MAGIC_glob(*)
    MG_OBJ = 0x8152d54
  NAME = "DESTROY"
  NAMELEN = 7
  GvSTASH = 0x8169050   "Exporter"
  GP = 0x852b8d8
    SV = 0x8152d90
    REFCNT = 1
    IO = 0x0
    FORM = 0x0  
    AV = 0x0
    HV = 0x0
    CV = 0x0
    CVGEN = 0x0
    GPFLAGS = 0x0
    LINE = 290
    FILE = "/usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/Spreadsheet/ParseExcel.pm"
    FLAGS = 0x2
    EGV = 0x8152d54     "DESTROY"

[download]

My actual questions:

  1. Have I found a memory leak?
  2. What do I do about it if I have?
  3. This item inserted because I thought I had another question, and I don't like lists with two entries
Update: I forgot to mention that I am using the latest version (0.2602) of Spreadsheet::ParseExcel


davis
It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to fit in eight hours of TV a day.

In reply to Have I found a memory leak? by davis

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