I'm working on a Twisted-based application where a memory leak occurs when a connection fails. The transport object continues to hold references, preventing garbage collection.

After a failed connection, I observe lingering references in memory, such as:

[{'_tempDataBuffer': [], 'protocol': None, 'addr': ('127.0.0.1', 12035), '_tempDataLen': 0, 'realAddress': ('127.0.0.1', 12035), 'doRead': <bound method Client.doConnect of <<class 'twisted.internet.tcp.Client'> to ('127.0.0.1', 12035) at 0x7f639f618350>>, 'doWrite': <bound method Client.doConnect of <<class 'twisted.internet.tcp.Client'> to ('127.0.0.1', 12035) at 0x7f639f618350>>, '_requiresResolution': False, 'reactor': <twisted.internet.epollreactor.EPollReactor object at 0x7f639fabe6d0>}]

It appears that doRead and doWrite are bound methods, keeping references alive. Additionally, the transport might still be present in the reactor’s reader/writer list.

What I've Tried: Calling loseConnection() on the transport when the connection fails.

Setting connector.transport = None inside clientConnectionFailed().

Ensuring the transport is removed from the reactor.

Running gc.collect() manually after connection failure.

However, the memory leak persists, and references to twisted.internet.tcp.Client objects are still present.