Limit Python VM memory

On Linux I'm using the resource module:

import resourceresource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS, (megs * 1048576L, -1L))

On *nix you can play around with the ulimit command, specifically the -m (max memory size) and -v (virtual memory).

Don't waste any time on this.

Instead, if you want to play with MemoryError exceptions create a design that isolates object construction so you can test it.

Instead of this

for i in range(1000000000000000000000):    try:        y = AnotherClass()    except MemoryError:        # the thing we wanted to test

Consider this.

for i in range(1000000000000000000000):    try:        y = makeAnotherClass()    except MemoryError:        # the thing we wanted to test

This requires one tiny addition to your design.

class AnotherClass( object ):    def __init__( self, *args, **kw ):    blah blah blahdef makeAnotherClass( *args, **kw ):    return AnotherClass( *args, **kw )

The extra function -- in the long run -- proves to be a good design pattern. It's a Factory, and you often need something like it.

You can then replace this makeAnotherClass with something like this.

class Maker( object ):    def __init__( self, count= 12 ):        self.count= count    def __call__( self, *args, **kw ):        if self.count == 0:            raise MemoryError        self.count -= 1        return AnotherClass( *args, **kw ) makeAnotherClass= Maker( count=12 )

This version will raise an exception without you having to limit memory in any obscure, unsupportable, complex or magical way.