# Memory leak - what could \_LogEntry be?
**URL:** https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149
**Category:** Coding
**Created:** [August 22, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149 "2018-08-22T11:43:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/1 "2018-08-22T11:43:54Z")
I’ve used objgraph (from [https://mg.pov.lt/objgraph/](https://mg.pov.lt/objgraph/)) to try to locate the source of a memory leak in my code. I have `objgraph.show_growth()` running on each iteration of my loop and it is showing me the feedback below. ’ \_LogEntry’ seems to be the main offender… does anyone know what that might be and how I might clear it to resolve the memory leak issue?
show growth…
list 37297 +37297
function 36368 +36368
dict 25299 +25299
tuple 17188 +17188
builtin\_function\_or\_method 16684 +16684
wrapper\_descriptor 8303 +8303
cell 7845 +7845
weakref 6932 +6932
c\_void\_p 6588 +6588
method\_descriptor 6162 +6162
show growth…
\_LogEntry 186 +65
wrapper\_descriptor 8315 +12
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 13 +9
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 22 +9
getset\_descriptor 5558 +8
VertexList 88 +7
dict 25305 +6
weakref 6936 +4
tuple 17191 +3
member\_descriptor 2045 +3
show growth…
\_LogEntry 275 +89
dict 25327 +22
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 19 +6
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 28 +6
c\_byte\_Array\_2048 23 +2
VertexList 90 +2
builtin\_function\_or\_method 16685 +1
show growth…
\_LogEntry 382 +107
dict 25341 +14
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 32 +4
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 23 +4
c\_byte\_Array\_2048 25 +2
show growth…
\_LogEntry 477 +95
getset\_descriptor 5566 +8
tuple 17197 +6
dict 25346 +5
StgDict 839 +4
weakref 6939 +3
PyCArrayType 126 +2
weakcallableproxy 126 +2
PyCPointerType 146 +2
show growth…
\_LogEntry 542 +65
frame 13 +2
tuple 17198 +1
show growth…
\_LogEntry 640 +98
dict 25361 +15
show growth…
\_LogEntry 705 +65
show growth…
\_LogEntry 773 +68
dict 25366 +5
show growth…
\_LogEntry 844 +71
dict 25371 +5
show growth…
\_LogEntry 912 +68
getset\_descriptor 5578 +12
tuple 17206 +8
dict 25379 +8
StgDict 845 +6
weakref 6944 +5
PyCArrayType 129 +3
weakcallableproxy 129 +3
PyCPointerType 149 +3
show growth…
\_LogEntry 965 +53
builtin\_function\_or\_method 16686 +1
tuple 17207 +1
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/2 "2018-08-24T13:44:31Z")
Ok so on the assumption that \_LogEntry is involved in logging, I commented out anything to do with logging and sure enough the \_LogEntry growth disappeared
However various other things are still leaking, and the memory usage is still ramping up. Any ideas for uncovering what’s causing the below?
show growth…
wrapper\_descriptor 8315 +12
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 13 +9
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 22 +9
dict 25274 +7
VertexList 87 +6
getset\_descriptor 5556 +4
member\_descriptor 2045 +3
weakref 6939 +3
method\_descriptor 6163 +1
show growth…
getset\_descriptor 5564 +8
tuple 17200 +6
dict 25280 +6
StgDict 838 +4
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 16 +3
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 25 +3
PyCArrayType 125 +2
weakref 6941 +2
weakcallableproxy 125 +2
VertexList 89 +2
show growth…
dict 25291 +11
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 30 +5
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 21 +5
c\_byte\_Array\_2048 23 +3
VertexList 90 +1
show growth…
show growth…
dict 25296 +5
getset\_descriptor 5568 +4
tuple 17203 +3
StgDict 840 +2
PyCArrayType 126 +1
c\_byte\_Array\_6144 22 +1
c\_byte\_Array\_4096 31 +1
weakref 6942 +1
weakcallableproxy 126 +1
PyCPointerType 146 +1
show growth…
show growth…
frame 12 +1
show growth…
show growth…
show growth…
getset\_descriptor 5580 +12
tuple 17212 +9
StgDict 846 +6
PyCArrayType 129 +3
weakref 6945 +3
weakcallableproxy 129 +3
PyCPointerType 149 +3
---
### Author:  [@djmannion](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/djmannion)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/3 "2018-08-24T21:36:25Z")
Can you post your code, or a similar example, that is showing the leaking behaviour?
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/4 "2018-08-27T11:49:46Z")
Hi @djmannion - sure thing! Here’s the code…:
[AP\_exp\_1\_debugging.py](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/psychopy/original/2X/0/07b9e38f174a73ddf256d2194aa914628eb3813e.py) (77.9 KB)
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/5 "2018-08-27T11:55:17Z")
Sorry to call you in @jon and @Michael , but any idea about this…?
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 2:00pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/6 "2018-08-27T14:00:03Z")
Ok so this is weird… on my mac’s Activity Monitor the PsychoPy memory usage still keeps on ramping up - I let it get to the point where it crashed and it was using something like 2.54 GB of memory… What’s odd is that the memory still ramped up when I just let the experiment screen run and didn’t provide any responses. When I checked the regular feedback from obj graph.show\_growth() in general the growth was either nothing (mostly) or a few classes growing by a small amount (e,g. +1). As I mentioned before, none of the variables in my code is changing in size at all…
To test if the problem is just running PsychoPy on my computer I tried opening the stoop test practice experiment that I made when i first used PsychoPy, and watched for an increase in memory usage - there wasn’t an increase.
So i’m still not sure what’s causing this… any thoughts would be massively appreciated (really struggling, and it’s holding back my PhD a lot…)
---
### Author:  [@Michael](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Michael)
#### Post date: [August 27, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/7 "2018-08-27T23:33:58Z")
OK, so you’ve isolated that it is something specific to your code, and you now have ways of tracking memory use. So to isolate it _within_ your code, you can apply some sort of binary search. e.g. cut out the second half of your experiment (or whatever substantial aspects are feasible given your design). Does the problem persist? If so, cut down the code again. If not, start working through the other part of the code.
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/8 "2018-09-18T18:53:03Z")
I think this is the bit of code that is a problem. On inspection I seem to be asking the code to collect a lot of stuff on every single frame, which is unnecessary and I’m guessing (completely intuitively) could be the source of the problem? What do you guys think? In particular I seem to be resetting text on every single frame:
```auto
score_text = visual.TextStim(win=win, name='score_text', text= score_update ,font='Arial',pos=(0.6, 0.3), height=0.1, wrapWidth=None, ori=0, color='white', colorSpace='rgb', opacity=1,depth=-2.0)
```
Obviously this is a dumb thing to do, and I should update it. Is there any reason to think this might be the source of the problem? I had a chat with someone recently that said that memory usage in code was in itself a problem… I didn’t completely understand him. He was suggesting that I should do pretty much everything with functions, and that somehow this avoids memory usage - I guess that’s good advice? Looking at the code does anything jump out to you that could be the problem here. Given that the memory usage seems to be ramping up without any participant response, probably only the first layer of the loop will be of relevance (although `if audio_stimulus.status == NOT_STARTED:` and `if t = 0.0 and key_resp_2.status == NOT_STARTED:` will have run/started running).
I’m presuming that the various variable names here are intuitive, but I’m happy to describe them all/any of them, if required…:
```auto
while continueRoutine:
old_how_many_correct = how_many_correct
# get current time
t = trialClock.getTime()
score_text.setAutoDraw(False) # deletes the last score_text
# the below updates the text to be used as score_text:
score_update = (str(ggg) + ' melodies\nPart 1\n\nCompleted ' + str(how_many_goes) + ' / ' + str(total_conditions) + '\n' + 'Score = ' + str(how_many_correct) + '\n' + str(percent) + '%\n\nPrevious =\n' + str(is_it_correct) + '\n' + str(AP_correctAns) )
# the below updates the score_text:
score_text = visual.TextStim(win=win, name='score_text', text= score_update ,font='Arial',pos=(0.6, 0.3), height=0.1, wrapWidth=None, ori=0, color='white', colorSpace='rgb', opacity=1,depth=-2.0);
if audio_stimulus.status == NOT_STARTED:
# keep track of start time/frame for later
audio_stimulus.tStart = t
audio_stimulus.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
audio_stimulus.play() # start the sound (it finishes automatically)
# *key_resp_2* updates
if t >= 0.0 and key_resp_2.status == NOT_STARTED:
# keep track of start time/frame for later
key_resp_2.tStart = t
key_resp_2.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
key_resp_2.status = STARTED
# keyboard checking is just starting
win.callOnFlip(key_resp_2.clock.reset) # t=0 on next screen flip
event.clearEvents(eventType='keyboard')
# COLLECTING THE RESPONSES:
if key_resp_2.status == STARTED:
theseKeys = event.getKeys(keyList=key_strings) # will only collect keys from those specified in key_strings, all others are banned
# check for quit:
if "escape" in theseKeys:
endExpNow = True
########################################
if len(theseKeys) > 0: # at least one key was pressed
key_resp_2.keys = theseKeys[0] # just the last key pressed
key_resp_2.rt = key_resp_2.clock.getTime()
# was this 'correct'?...............:
# LOOP LAYER within 'if at least one key was pressed' loop:
if (key_resp_2.keys == str(corrAns)) or (key_resp_2.keys == corrAns):
key_resp_2.corr = 1 # store that the answer was correct
how_many_correct += 1 # tally that the answer was correct
how_many_goes +=1 # tally that 1 more go has taken place
AP_correctAns = songTitle # for the purpose of on screen text..
is_it_correct = 'Correct:' # for the purpose of on screen text..
percent = int((how_many_correct/how_many_goes) * 100) # for the purpose of on screen text..
audio_stimulus.stop() # stop playing the audio_stimulus
# WARNING! With the below code I initially wanted the correct_text to show, and the incorrect text to be set to finished, however, I couldn't get the correct_text to display, so this code is currently redundant I think
if t >= 0.0 and correct_text.status == NOT_STARTED:
correct_text.tStart = t
correct_text.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
correct_text.setAutoDraw(True)
incorrect_text.status = FINISHED
audio_feedback.status = FINISHED # the audio_feedback doesn't play if the response was correct
else:
key_resp_2.corr = 0 # store that the answer was incorrect
how_many_goes +=1 # tally that one more go has taken place
AP_correctAns = songTitle # for the purpose of on screen text..
is_it_correct = '' # for the purpose of on screen text..
percent = int((how_many_correct/how_many_goes) * 100) # for the purpose of on screen text..
audio_stimulus.stop() # stop playing the audio_stimulus
audio_feedback.tStart = t # start playing the audio_feedback
audio_feedback.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
audio_feedback.play()
# the below code starts the on screen text saying 'INCORRECT' and sets correct_text (currently redundant anyway) to FINISHED
if t >= 0.0 and incorrect_text.status == NOT_STARTED:
# keep track of start time/frame for later
incorrect_text.tStart = t
incorrect_text.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
incorrect_text.setAutoDraw(True)
correct_text.status = FINISHED
#################
# The next bit of code is probably redundant, as a response must be made in the experiment
if key_resp_2.keys in ['', [], None]: # No response was made
key_resp_2.keys=None
# was no response the correct answer?!
if str(corrAns).lower() == 'none':
key_resp_2.corr = 1 # correct non-response
else:
key_resp_2.corr = 0 # failed to respond (incorrect)
#store data for trials (TrialHandler)
trials.addData('key_resp_2.keys',key_resp_2.keys)
trials.addData('key_resp_2.corr', key_resp_2.corr)
if key_resp_2.keys != None: # we had a response
trials.addData('key_resp_2.rt', key_resp_2.rt)
##########################################################
#UPDATING THE ON SCREEN TEXT:
# *text_2* updates
if t >= 0.0 and text_2.status == NOT_STARTED:
# keep track of start time/frame for later
text_2.tStart = t
text_2.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
text_2.setAutoDraw(True)
# *score_text* updates
if t >= 0.0 and score_text.status == NOT_STARTED:
# keep track of start time/frame for later
score_text.tStart = t
score_text.frameNStart = frameN # exact frame index
score_text.setAutoDraw(True)
if audio_feedback.status == FINISHED and correct_text.status == FINISHED or incorrect_text.status == FINISHED:
continueRoutine = False
##########################################
# check if all components have finished
if not continueRoutine: # a component has requested a forced-end of Routine
break
continueRoutine = False # will revert to True if at least one component still running
for thisComponent in trialComponents:
if hasattr(thisComponent, "status") and thisComponent.status != FINISHED:
continueRoutine = True
break # at least one component has not yet finished
# check for quit (the Esc key)
if endExpNow or event.getKeys(keyList=["escape"]):
thisExp.saveAsWideText(filename+'.csv')
# added the save to excel file bit into the escape bit, to make sure it saves the data.
core.quit()
# refresh the screen
if continueRoutine: # don't flip if this routine is over or we'll get a blank screen
win.flip()
```
Thoughts? Thanks! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Michael](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Michael)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2018, 11:04pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/9 "2018-09-18T23:04:43Z")
For a start, you shouldn’t re-create a stimulus on every frame. This takes a lot of time (if not memory). You should create your `score_text` variable just once, and then in your drawing loop, you just update its properties as required. e.g.
```
score_text.text = score_update
```
Now there is a known underlying memory leak in a library that we rely on (`pyglet`) in precisely this situation (rapidly updating the text value of a text stimulus). This might be what you are encountering. I know @jon is at work on developing a new text stimulus that would avoid this limitation in `pyglet` and hopefully that won’t be too far away.
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Leak](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/Sam_Leak)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/memory-leak-what-could-logentry-be/5149/10 "2018-09-23T20:07:45Z")
Thanks!