pytracker: Built-in Object Tracking for Production Code

For full documentation, see http://garywiz.github.io/pytracker.

If you're in a hurry, here's a quick overview:

The pytracker extension provides a small, efficient set of classes for tracking object usage in production code. In order to track objects, they must be subclasses of the pytracker.Trackable class, which in most cases behaves exactly like the Python object class.

Unlike existing packages like Heapy and PySizer, pytracker is not designed for profiling or debugging existing code, but is rather designed to allow you instrument production systems for monitoring of object usage during normal operation. It is especially useful for optimizing long-running systems which may exhibit memory leaks or unusual usage patterns over time.

Though you can create your own tracker to collect more comprehensive information about live objects, there is a simple tracker provided which can be used quickly and easily. For example:

>>> from pytracker import Tracker, Trackable, set_global_tracker
>>> t = Tracker()
>>> set_global_tracker(t)
>>> 
>>> class track_my_instances(Trackable):
...   pass
... 
>>> i1 = track_my_instances()
>>> i2 = track_my_instances()
>>> t.dump()
track_my_instances                       allocated: 2            retired: 0           
>>> i1 = None
>>> t.dump()
track_my_instances                       allocated: 1 (-1)       retired: 1 (+1)      
>>> 

Downloading and Installing

The easiest way to install pytracker`` is using pip` from the https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytracker package:

# Ubuntu or debian prerequisites...
apt-get install pip
apt-get install python-dev
apt-get install gcc

# pytracker installation (may be all you need)
pip install pytracker

License

This software is distributed under the BSD License.

Copyright (c) 2013, Gary J. Wisniewski, All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer:

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. Neither the name of the author, the author's organization, nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.