A simple search for perl_free yields http://archive.develooper.com/perl5-porters@perl.org/msg97324.html, so it appears this may be a known issue. I once read on p5p (IIRC) that you shouldn't call perl_free more than once. I also found MemLeak in Perl from C Calls. I suggest you turn to perl5-porters, and hopefully one of the knowledgables will give you a more definitive answer (although given how much code you hide, that may not be entirely possible).

update: http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/cgi-bin/w3glimpse/perl5-porters?query=perl_free&errors=0&case=on&maxfiles=100&maxlines=30

BTW, calling this Yet another Embedding question doesn't improve searchability (retitle).

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"
I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).
** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.

In reply to Re: Yet another Embedding question by PodMaster
in thread Yet another Embedding question by tomw1975

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.