Do I need to handle reference counting for GObjects? What about for other objects in PyGTK/gnome-python?
At the Python level, all reference counting should be taken care of by PyGTK and gnome-python themselves; there is no need to ref()/unref() GObjects in python code. If you encounter a reference counting problem, most likely it is a bug in the code, with the following exception: • There is a reference cycle between the python wrapper and its underlying C object; this means that the object will not be automatically deallocated when there are no more user references, and you will need the garbage collector to kick in (which may take a few cycles). This occasionally causes the odd problem, such as with pixbufs described in FAQ 8.4 Note that while gnome-vfs objects are not based on GObject, and implement their own reference counting, it’s the same from the point of view of Python code: nothing needs to be done. A significant difference in gnome-vfs objects is that they do not allow the programmer to add new attributes or subclass them.
