Oracle JVM Garbage Collection not executing

Question

I am experiencing a problem with garbage collection when running a java stored procedure in an 9.2.0.3.0 Oracle database running on a Windows 2k computer.
I have created a simple java class that represents a tree structure. Each instance of the class has a reference to it's parent and a Vecotor of all it's children. Each instance also has a Vector to hold name value pairs. I ran a program that creates 30 instances with 50 children each for a total of 1500 instances. Each instance has 30 properties(name value pairs).
By using the debugger in JDeveloper and breakpoints I can watch the javaw.exe process's use of RAM.
Start up: 6,788mb
After creation of 1500 instances: 17,720
After releasing all objects and calling System.gc(): 7,156
I deploy the package to my Oracle database and perform the exact same routine using breakpoints and test procedures in plsql Developer. Using the breakpoints and watching the oracle.exe process's use of RAM I see:
Start up: 81,116mb
After creation of 1500 instances: 94,952
After releasing all objects and calling System.gc(): 95,036
When run in Oracle the resources are not released. Is there somthing special that needs to be called to get the garbage collector to do it's job when running in an Oracle database?
Execution Instructions and source:
run app.main from jdeveloper and app.main2 as a plsql stored procedure. I have included my test procedure at the end and the plsql stored procedure package declarations. I used debuggers and breakpoints to watch the process, there is probably a way to do this by outputting the current memory being used by I didn't know how. If you use debuggers and breakpoints then when running in JDeveloper put your breakpoints on the 3 assignments of breakpointVar in SimpleClass.main(...). When running the stored procedure test block put them on the 3 assignments of breakpoint_var in there.
package mypackage2;
public class app {
private static SimpleClass topObject;
public static void main(String[] args) {
int breakpointVar;
breakpointVar = 0;
main2(30, 50);
breakpointVar = 1;
release();
breakpointVar = 2;
public static void main2(int numParents, int numChildren){
SimpleClass temp;
SimpleClass child;
topObject = new SimpleClass();
for(int i = 0; i < numParents; i ++){
temp = new SimpleClass();
addProperties(temp, 30);
topObject.addChild(temp);
for(int j = 0; j < numChildren; j++){
child = new SimpleClass();
addProperties(child, 30);
temp.addChild(child);
public static void release(){
topObject.releaseAllDecendents();
topObject.release();
System.gc();
private static void addProperties(SimpleClass toAddTo, int numProps){
cimxProperty toAdd;
for(int i = 0; i < numProps; i ++){
toAdd = new cimxProperty("prop "+i,"value "+i);
toAddTo.addProperty(toAdd);
package mypackage2;
import java.util.Vector;
public class SimpleClass {
private Vector _children;
private Vector _props;
private SimpleClass _parent;
public SimpleClass() {
_children = new Vector(10, 5);
_props = new Vector(10, 5);
_parent = null;
public void addChild(SimpleClass toAdd) {
toAdd._parent = this;
_children.add(toAdd);
public SimpleClass getChild(int index){
return (SimpleClass)_children.get(index);
public void addProperty(cimxProperty toAdd){
_props.add(toAdd);
public cimxProperty getProperty(int index) {
return (cimxProperty)_props.get(index);
public void releaseAllDecendents()
SimpleClass temp;
//remove all references to the the parent object from the children.
for(int i = 0; i < _children.size(); i ++)
temp = (SimpleClass)this._children.get(i);
temp.releaseAllDecendents();
temp._parent = null;
temp._props.clear();
temp._children.clear();
temp = null;
this._children.clear();
public void release() {
this._parent = null;
this._children.clear();
this._props.clear();
package mypackage2;
public class cimxProperty
private static String _dateFormat = "MM/DD/YYYY HH:MI:SS";
private String name;
private String value;
private String dataType;
public cimxProperty()
name = "";
value = "";
dataType = "";
public cimxProperty(String Name, String Value)
name = Name;
value = Value;
dataType = "UNKNOWN";
public cimxProperty(String Name, String Value, String DataType)
name = Name;
value = Value;
dataType = DataType;
public String toString()
return name + "["+dataType + "]: " + value;
public void setName(String name)
this.name = name;
public String getName()
return name;
public void setValue(String value)
this.value = value;
public String getValue()
return value;
public void setDataType(String DataType)
this.dataType = DataType;
public String getDataType()
return dataType;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE JAVA_MEMORY_TEST AUTHID CURRENT_USER AS PROCEDURE release; PROCEDURE main2(p_num_parents IN NUMBER, p_num_children IN NUMBER); END JAVA_MEMORY_TEST;
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY JAVA_MEMORY_TEST AS PROCEDURE release AS LANGUAGE JAVA NAME 'mypackage2.app.release()'; PROCEDURE main2(p_num_parents IN NUMBER, p_num_children IN NUMBER) AS LANGUAGE JAVA NAME 'mypackage2.app.main2(int, int)'; END JAVA_MEMORY_TEST;
declare
number breakpoint_var
begin
-- Call the procedure
breakpoint_var := 0;
java_memory_test.main2(30, 50);
breakpoint_var := 1;
java_memory_test.release();
breakpoint_var := 2;
end;

Answer 1

When run in Oracle the resources are not released. Is there somthing special that needs to
be called to get the garbage collector to do it's job when running in an Oracle database?Curious - I was always under the impression that you can not force garbage collection. All you could do was request it, and the JVM was free to do that when it was "good 'n ready", usually in a separate thread.
I gather this from the API docs for system.gc() where it says "Calling this method suggests that the Java virtual machine expend effort ..." and the word "suggests" imlies that it is not required to run.