Android Context Memory Leak ListView due to AudioManager

Question

I have a ListView and I would expect it to be cleared from memory when the activity finishes. However, it appears that it is leaking. When I check the Memory Du

Answer 1

This is a very basic activity that replicates the issue (on Android 4.0.3 at least)

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    int image[];

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        image = new int[1000 * 1500 * 4];
    }
}

As you can see there are no Views or Layots associated with activity, also I set "Silent" profile in system Sound Settings and turned off "Vibrate on touch".

Now, after few (5-7 depending on your heapSize) restarts this activity generates the java.lang.OutOfMemoryError on trying to create new array.

07-27 19:54:10.160  22542-22542/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 6K, 1% free 56040K/56391K, paused 25ms
07-27 19:54:10.190  22542-22542/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_BEFORE_OOM freed 23449K, 43% free 32591K/56391K, paused 30ms
07-27 19:54:10.260  22542-22543/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_CONCURRENT freed 0K, 1% free 56029K/56391K, paused 3ms+3ms
07-27 19:54:11.850  22542-22542/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_FOR_ALLOC freed 6K, 1% free 56040K/56391K, paused 20ms
07-27 19:54:11.880  22542-22542/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_BEFORE_OOM freed <1K, 1% free 56040K/56391K, paused 29ms
... Out of memory on a 24000016-byte allocation.

Dumping .hprof I also saw 2 activities, one of them is being held by AudioManager.

Calling the "Update Heap" and then Collect Garbage in Android Device Monitor really does remove the activity from memory, that is what the logcat states on this procedure

07-27 19:44:23.150        85-85/? I/DEBUG﹕ #06  pc 000382cc  /system/lib/libdvm.so (dvmCollectGarbageInternal(GcSpec const*)+1204)

I have also tried to build the release version of the apk and it behaves the same. So it is not the debugger holding the reference.

This seems to me as a bug in Android. The workaround would be to explicitly call the image = null in OnStop() or onFinish() of the activity. This of course is not convenient.