[bdb bug]repeatly open and close db may cause memory leak

Question

my test code is very simple :
char *filename = "xxx.db";
char *dbname = "xxx";
for( ; ;)
DB *dbp;
DB_TXN *txnp;
db_create(&dbp,dbenvp, 0);
dbenvp->txn_begin(dbenvp, NULL, &txnp, 0);
ret = dbp->open(dbp, txnp, filename, dbname, DB_BTREE, DB_CREATE, 0);
if(ret != 0)
printf("failed to open db:%s\n",db_strerror(ret));
return 0;
txnp->commit(txnp, 0);
dbp->close(dbp, DB_NOSYNC);
I try to run my test program for a long time opening and closing db repeatly, then use the PS command and find the RSS is increasing slowly:
ps -va
PID TTY STAT TIME MAJFL TRS DRS RSS %MEM COMMAND
1986 pts/0 S 0:00 466 588 4999 980 0.3 -bash
2615 pts/0 R 0:01 588 2 5141 2500 0.9 ./test
after a few minutes：
ps -va
PID TTY STAT TIME MAJFL TRS DRS RSS %MEM COMMAND
1986 pts/0 S 0:00 473 588 4999 976 0.3 -bash
2615 pts/0 R 30:02 689 2 156561 117892 46.2 ./test
I had read bdb's source code before, so i tried to debug it for about a week and found something like a bug:
If open a db with both filename and dbname, bdb will open a db handle for master db and a db handle for subdb,
both of the two handle will get an fileid by a internal api called __dbreg_get_id, however, just the subdb's id will be
return to bdb's log region by calling __dbreg_pop_id. It leads to a id leak if I tried to open and close the db
repeatly, as a result， __dbreg_add_dbentry will call realloc repeatly to enlarge the dbentry area, this seens to be
the reason for RSS increasing.
Is it not a BUG?
sorry for my pool english :)
Edited by: user9222236 on 2010-2-25 下午10:38

Answer 1

I have tested my program using Oracle Berkeley DB release 4.8.26 and 4.7.25 in redhat 9.0 (Kernel 2.4.20-8smp on an i686) and AIX Version 5.
The problem is easy to be reproduced by calling the open method of db handle with both filename and dbname being specified and calling the close method.
My program is very simple:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
#include "db.h"
int main(int argc, char * argv[])
int ret, count;
DB_ENV *dbenvp;
char * filename = "test.dbf";
char * dbname = "test";
db_env_create(&dbenvp, 0);
dbenvp->open(dbenvp, "/home/bdb/code/test/env",DB_CREATE|DB_INIT_LOCK|DB_INIT_LOG|DB_INIT_TXN|DB_INIT_MPOOL, 0);
for(count = 0 ; count < 10000000 ; count++)
DB *dbp;
DB_TXN *txnp;
db_create(&dbp,dbenvp, 0);
dbenvp->txn_begin(dbenvp, NULL, &txnp, 0);
ret = dbp->open(dbp, txnp, filename, dbname, DB_BTREE, DB_CREATE, 0);
if(ret != 0)
printf("failed to open db:%s\n",db_strerror(ret));
return 0;
txnp->commit(txnp, 0);
dbp->close(dbp, DB_NOSYNC);
dbenvp->close(dbenvp, 0);
return 0;
DB_CONFIG is like below:
set_cachesize 0 20000 0
set_flags db_auto_commit
set_flags db_txn_nosync
set_flags db_log_inmemory
set_lk_detect db_lock_minlocks
Edited by: user9222236 on 2010-2-28 下午5:42
Edited by: user9222236 on 2010-2-28 下午5:45