Source: libtest-refcount-perl Maintainer: Debian Perl Group Uploaders: gregor herrmann Section: perl Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-perl Priority: optional Build-Depends: debhelper-compat (= 13), libmodule-build-perl Build-Depends-Indep: perl Standards-Version: 4.6.1 Vcs-Browser: https://salsa.debian.org/perl-team/modules/packages/libtest-refcount-perl Vcs-Git: https://salsa.debian.org/perl-team/modules/packages/libtest-refcount-perl.git Homepage: https://metacpan.org/release/Test-Refcount Rules-Requires-Root: no Package: libtest-refcount-perl Architecture: all Depends: ${misc:Depends}, ${perl:Depends} # libdevel-mat-perl has build issues, cf. #1026046 # libdevel-mat-perl Recommends: libdevel-mat-dumper-perl Description: Perl module to assert reference counts Test::Refcount asserts that an object's reference count is as expected. Since Perl's automatic memory management algorithm uses reference counting to keep track of which 'things' (ie, scalars, objects, etc.) are in use, problems like circular references (where a variable points to itself) can prevent Perl from properly freeing them. . If the assertion fails; that is, if the actual reference count is different to what was expected, a trace of references to the object is printed, using the Devel::FindRef module. It is probably most useful as part of a comprehensive module author test suite.