Does Apple's Xcode development enviroment provide any tools for memory leak detection? I am especially interested in tools that apply to the iPhone SDK. (currently my favorite platfrom for hobby programming projects) Documentations/tutorials for said tools would be very helpful.
+2
A:
ObjectAlloc and MallocDebug should both be of help to you. If you installed the entire SDK, they will be found in Developer->Applications->Performance Tools.
Their names give you a pretty good clue as to their functions, OA, tracks the objects create and MA is a general memory leak tool.
I haven't tried them with iPhone development yet, but I have to believe that they would work there as well.
Assuming you have registered for ADC iPhone developer site, here the link to follow:Instruments User Guide
KevDog
2008-09-27 21:11:28
+8
A:
Try Apple's Instruments utility, found in /Developer/Applications/.
A commercial alternative is OmniObjectMeter.
titaniumdecoy
2008-09-27 21:13:34
+2
A:
You can run the tools within XCode over menu -> run -> start with performance tool -> ...
catlan
2008-09-27 21:21:28
+16
A:
There is one specifically called 'Leaks' and like a previous poster said, the easiest way to run it is straight from Xcode: run -> Start with Performance Tool -> Leaks. It seems very good at detecting memory leaks, and was easy for a Non-C Head like me to figure out.
rustyshelf
2008-09-28 00:32:47
Note that in recent versions of OS X, this is actually part of Instruments. This is an excellent way to find leaks.
Quinn Taylor
2009-07-20 15:18:34
+4
A:
Clang is an awesome static code analyzer to find bugs in objective-c code:
lajos
2008-09-28 01:05:14
That's like saying "gcc is a code coverage too" because it includes gcov. Clang is the name of the overall LLVM C front-end project. The static analyzer is "the Clang static analyzer."
Chris Hanson
2008-09-28 09:40:07
Chris is correct (of course) but things have changed a bit since then. In Snow Leopard, Xcode 3.2 will integrate the Clang static analyzer in a beautiful way, and it can indeed be a wonderful way to find leaks.
Quinn Taylor
2009-07-20 15:20:29
+1
A:
When using rustyshelf's solution make sure you test on the iPhone and not on the simulator. Memory usage is dramatically different.
schwa
2008-09-28 02:20:43
It's true that runtime memory usage is different, but the paradigm(s) for managing memory work for all Objective-C applications. A leak is a leak, even though it may manifest itself in different ways or at odd times.
Quinn Taylor
2009-07-20 15:21:49
+1
A:
Made a sum up of the main memory leak tools: http://bcaccinolo.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/iphone-essential-performance-tools-list/
Benoit Caccinolo
2010-09-16 12:51:28