You can try running the garbage collector after each savefig. ("import gc" and then call "gc.collect()"). If you are using a GUI backend, you may want to try using the "raw" Agg backend instead -- there are fewer moving parts that way.
There have been a number of memory leaks that have been fixed since 0.90.1. You may want to try 0.91 or a SVN checkout to see if that fixes your problem. There is additional information about memory leaks in the FAQ. I don't know if any are relevant to your particular situation: http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/faq.html#LEAKS If none of the above helps, please send a complete but short script that reproduces the error (basing it on memleak_gui.py or memleak_hawaii.py is even more helpful), and one of the developers can look into it. Cheers, Mike Jordan Atlas wrote: > Hi all, > > I've noticed that when I save my figures using savefig the memory is > not immediately released. For example, in pseudocode, > > times = get_times() > for var_id in var_list: > Plotting.figure() > var_values = get_values(var_id) > pylab.plot(times, values) > Plotting.savefig(var+'.png', dpi=150) > Plotting.close() > > This pseudo code loops over a list of variables, gets their values, and > saves a plot for each one. The variable list has hundreds of items. If > I run the code like this, the memory usage grows very quickly until > python crashes. If I comment out the savefig line, or shorten the list > of variables, the code completes without error. > > Can anyone suggest how I might write this differently so that I can > process the long list of variables and save the figures? Is there any > way to force the program to release memory once the figures are saved? > > I'm using matplotlib 0.90.1 and python 2.4 on windows XP. > > Thank you, > > --Jordan Atlas > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is sponsored by: The Future of Linux Business White Paper > from Novell. From the desktop to the data center, Linux is going > mainstream. Let it simplify your IT future. > http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/8857-50307-18918-4 > _______________________________________________ > Matplotlib-users mailing list > Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users -- Michael Droettboom Science Software Branch Operations and Engineering Division Space Telescope Science Institute Operated by AURA for NASA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: The Future of Linux Business White Paper from Novell. From the desktop to the data center, Linux is going mainstream. Let it simplify your IT future. http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/8857-50307-18918-4 _______________________________________________ Matplotlib-users mailing list Matplotlib-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-users