Add workaround for symbol class leak

symengine/lib/pywrapper.cpp

@@ -281,47 +281,61 @@ inline PyObject* get_pickle_module() {
     return module;
 }
 
+PyObject* pickle_loads(const std::string &pickle_str) {
+    PyObject *module = get_pickle_module();
+    PyObject *pickle_bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(pickle_str.data(), pickle_str.size());
+    PyObject *obj = PyObject_CallMethod(module, "loads", "O", pickle_bytes);
+    Py_XDECREF(pickle_bytes);
+    if (obj == NULL) {
+        throw SerializationError("error when loading pickled symbol subclass object");
+    }
+    return obj;
+}
+
 RCP<const Basic> load_basic(cereal::PortableBinaryInputArchive &ar, RCP<const Symbol> &)
 {
     bool is_pysymbol;
+    bool store_pickle;
     std::string name;
     ar(is_pysymbol);
     ar(name);
     if (is_pysymbol) {
         std::string pickle_str;
         ar(pickle_str);
-        PyObject *module = get_pickle_module();
-        PyObject *pickle_bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(pickle_str.data(), pickle_str.size());
-        PyObject *obj = PyObject_CallMethod(module, "loads", "O", pickle_bytes);
-        if (obj == NULL) {
-            throw SerializationError("error when loading pickled symbol subclass object");
-        }
-        RCP<const Basic> result = make_rcp<PySymbol>(name, obj);
-        Py_XDECREF(pickle_bytes);
+        ar(store_pickle);
+        PyObject *obj = pickle_loads(pickle_str);
+        RCP<const Basic> result = make_rcp<PySymbol>(name, obj, store_pickle);
+        Py_XDECREF(obj);
         return result;
     } else {
         return symbol(name);
     }
 }
 
+std::string pickle_dumps(const PyObject * obj) {
+    PyObject *module = get_pickle_module();
+    PyObject *pickle_bytes = PyObject_CallMethod(module, "dumps", "O", obj);
+    if (pickle_bytes == NULL) {
+        throw SerializationError("error when pickling symbol subclass object");
+    }
+    Py_ssize_t size;
+    char* buffer;
+    PyBytes_AsStringAndSize(pickle_bytes, &buffer, &size);
+    return std::string(buffer, size);
+}
+
 void save_basic(cereal::PortableBinaryOutputArchive &ar, const Symbol &b)
 {
     bool is_pysymbol = is_a_sub<PySymbol>(b);
     ar(is_pysymbol);
     ar(b.__str__());
     if (is_pysymbol) {
         RCP<const PySymbol> p = rcp_static_cast<const PySymbol>(b.rcp_from_this());
-        PyObject *module = get_pickle_module();
-        PyObject *pickle_bytes = PyObject_CallMethod(module, "dumps", "O", p->get_py_object());
-        if (pickle_bytes == NULL) {
-            throw SerializationError("error when pickling symbol subclass object");
-        }
-        Py_ssize_t size;
-        char* buffer;
-        PyBytes_AsStringAndSize(pickle_bytes, &buffer, &size);
-        std::string pickle_str(buffer, size);
+        PyObject *obj = p->get_py_object();
+        std::string pickle_str = pickle_dumps(obj);
         ar(pickle_str);
-        Py_XDECREF(pickle_bytes);
+        ar(p->store_pickle);
+        Py_XDECREF(obj);
     }
 }
 

symengine/lib/pywrapper.h

@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 
 namespace SymEngine {
 
+std::string pickle_dumps(const PyObject *);
+PyObject* pickle_loads(const std::string &);
+
 /*
  * PySymbol is a subclass of Symbol that keeps a reference to a Python object.
  * When subclassing a Symbol from Python, the information stored in subclassed
@@ -27,16 +30,30 @@ namespace SymEngine {
 class PySymbol : public Symbol {
 private:
     PyObject* obj;
+    std::string bytes;
 public:
-    PySymbol(const std::string& name, PyObject* obj) : Symbol(name), obj(obj) {
-        Py_INCREF(obj);
+    const bool store_pickle;
+    PySymbol(const std::string& name, PyObject* obj, bool store_pickle) :
+            Symbol(name), obj(obj), store_pickle(store_pickle) {
+        if (store_pickle) {
+            bytes = pickle_dumps(obj);
+        } else {
+            Py_INCREF(obj);
+        }
     }
     PyObject* get_py_object() const {
-        return obj;
+        if (store_pickle) {
+            return pickle_loads(bytes);
+        } else {
+            Py_INCREF(obj);
+            return obj;
+        }
     }
     virtual ~PySymbol() {
-        // TODO: This is never called because of the cyclic reference.
-        Py_DECREF(obj);
+        if (not store_pickle) {
+            // TODO: This is never called because of the cyclic reference.
+            Py_DECREF(obj);
+        }
     }
 };
 

symengine/lib/symengine.pxd

@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ cdef extern from "<symengine/basic.h>" namespace "SymEngine":
     bool neq(const Basic &a, const Basic &b) nogil except +
 
     RCP[const Symbol] rcp_static_cast_Symbol "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::Symbol>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil
-    RCP[const PySymbol] rcp_static_cast_PySymbol "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::PySymbol>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil
+    RCP[const PySymbol] rcp_static_cast_PySymbol "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::PySymbol>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil except +
     RCP[const Integer] rcp_static_cast_Integer "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::Integer>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil
     RCP[const Rational] rcp_static_cast_Rational "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::Rational>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil
     RCP[const Complex] rcp_static_cast_Complex "SymEngine::rcp_static_cast<const SymEngine::Complex>"(rcp_const_basic &b) nogil
@@ -367,8 +367,8 @@ cdef extern from "pywrapper.h" namespace "SymEngine":
 
 cdef extern from "pywrapper.h" namespace "SymEngine":
     cdef cppclass PySymbol(Symbol):
-        PySymbol(string name, PyObject* pyobj)
-        PyObject* get_py_object()
+        PySymbol(string name, PyObject* pyobj, bool use_pickle) except +
+        PyObject* get_py_object() except +
 
     string wrapper_dumps(const Basic &x) nogil except +
     rcp_const_basic wrapper_loads(const string &s) nogil except +
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ cdef extern from "<symengine/basic.h>" namespace "SymEngine":
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_Symbol "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::Symbol>"(string name) nogil
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_Dummy "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::Dummy>"() nogil
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_Dummy "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::Dummy>"(string name) nogil
-    rcp_const_basic make_rcp_PySymbol "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::PySymbol>"(string name, PyObject * pyobj) nogil
+    rcp_const_basic make_rcp_PySymbol "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::PySymbol>"(string name, PyObject * pyobj, bool use_pickle) except +
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_Constant "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::Constant>"(string name) nogil
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_Infty "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::Infty>"(RCP[const Number] i) nogil
     rcp_const_basic make_rcp_NaN "SymEngine::make_rcp<const SymEngine::NaN>"() nogil

symengine/lib/symengine_wrapper.pyx

@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ cpdef void assign_to_capsule(object capsule, object value):
 
 cdef object c2py(rcp_const_basic o):
     cdef Basic r
+    cdef PyObject *obj
     if (symengine.is_a_Add(deref(o))):
         r = Expr.__new__(Add)
     elif (symengine.is_a_Mul(deref(o))):
@@ -74,7 +75,10 @@ cdef object c2py(rcp_const_basic o):
         r = Dummy.__new__(Dummy)
     elif (symengine.is_a_Symbol(deref(o))):
         if (symengine.is_a_PySymbol(deref(o))):
-            return <object>(deref(symengine.rcp_static_cast_PySymbol(o)).get_py_object())
+            obj = deref(symengine.rcp_static_cast_PySymbol(o)).get_py_object()
+            result = <object>(obj)
+            Py_XDECREF(obj);
+            return result
         r = Symbol.__new__(Symbol)
     elif (symengine.is_a_Constant(deref(o))):
         r = S.Pi
@@ -1216,16 +1220,26 @@ cdef class Expr(Basic):
 
 
 cdef class Symbol(Expr):
-
     """
     Symbol is a class to store a symbolic variable with a given name.
+    Subclassing Symbol leads to a memory leak due to a cycle in reference counting.
+    To avoid this with a performance penalty, set the kwarg store_pickle=True
+    in the constructor and support the pickle protocol in the subclass by
+    implmenting __reduce__.
     """
 
     def __init__(Basic self, name, *args, **kwargs):
+        cdef cppbool store_pickle;
         if type(self) == Symbol:
             self.thisptr = symengine.make_rcp_Symbol(name.encode("utf-8"))
         else:
-            self.thisptr = symengine.make_rcp_PySymbol(name.encode("utf-8"), <PyObject*>self)
+            store_pickle = kwargs.pop("store_pickle", False)
+            if store_pickle:
+                # First set the pointer to a regular symbol so that when pickle.dumps
+                # is called when the PySymbol is created, methods like name works.
+                self.thisptr = symengine.make_rcp_Symbol(name.encode("utf-8"))
+            self.thisptr = symengine.make_rcp_PySymbol(name.encode("utf-8"), <PyObject*>self,
+                store_pickle)
 
     def _sympy_(self):
         import sympy