> I've been told numerous times that using __del__ is not the way to handle > clean-up because it is finicky.
matthew, welcome to Python and this Tutor mailing list! and yes, i'll echo everyone else in saqying that using __del__ should be avoided. the most critical issues regarding this is because there are object references everywhere, and it's not prdictable when they get to zero and GC'd, meaning you don't if/when it will execute. also, during program shutdown, as objects are being deallocated during termination, some of the objects in your __del__ may have already been released so exceptions may occur. to get around this exceptions occurring within __del__ are *ignored*. more here: http://docs.python.org/reference/datamodel.html#customization > Fine. However, how should I handle the > following problem: > A folder is created during object instantiation. This is necessary because > multiple other methods depend on the existence of that folder, and in the > future things may be running in parallel so it has to be there for the > entire life of the object. Before the object is deleted, I want that temp > folder to be deleted (ala shutil.rmtree). Is there a better way to do this? is your program threaded? if not, you can delete the filetree at the end of your application, right before it ends. if it is threaded, you may consider join()ing them all before deleting. hope this helps! -- wesley - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2007,2001 "Python Fundamentals", Prentice Hall, (c)2009 http://corepython.com wesley.j.chun :: wescpy-at-gmail.com python training and technical consulting cyberweb.consulting : silicon valley, ca http://cyberwebconsulting.com _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
