- This module lets you run some code through the valgrind memory debugger,
- to test it for memory errors and leaks. Just add "use Test::Valgrind" at
- the beginning of the code you want to test. Behind the hood,
- "Test::Valgrind::import" forks so that the child can basically "exec
- 'valgrind', $^X, $0" (except that of course $0 isn't right there). The
- parent then parses the report output by valgrind and pass or fail tests
- accordingly.
-
- You can also use it from the command-line to test a given script :
-
- perl -MTest::Valgrind leaky.pl
+ This module is a front-end to the "Test::Valgrind::*" API that lets you
+ run Perl code through the "memcheck" tool of the "valgrind" memory
+ debugger, to test it for memory errors and leaks. If they aren't
+ available yet, it will first generate suppressions for the current
+ "perl" interpreter and store them in the portable flavour of
+ ~/.perl/Test-Valgrind/suppressions/$VERSION. The actual run will then
+ take place, and tests will be passed or failed according to the result
+ of the analysis.
+
+ Due to the nature of perl's memory allocator, this module can't track
+ leaks of Perl objects. This includes non-mortalized scalars and memory
+ cycles. However, it can track leaks of chunks of memory allocated in XS
+ extensions with "Newx" and friends or "malloc". As such, it's
+ complementary to the other very good leak detectors listed in the "SEE
+ ALSO" section.