Spring Boot should release test contexts which failed to load

[ewirch]

Affects: 5.3.15

---

For a Spring Boot project with many tests loading the Spring context (@SpringBootTest): if loading the Spring context fails, the context will remain in memory and test execution will eventually fail with OutOfMemoryError (hiding the original problem).

I created a heap dump of a failed run. I see 109 instances of org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory on the heap. I see these paths to GC roots preventing the context from being garbage collected:

The context should be closed, when it fails loading. At least for tests.

[sbrannen]

Potentially related to:

• Memory leak with CglibAopProxy$ProxyCallbackFilter #26266

[sbrannen]

The context should be closed, when it fails loading. At least for tests.

If an ApplicationContext fails to load (i.e., complete the "refresh" action), it cannot be closed because it was never fully started/refreshed. In addition, I do not believe that the Spring TestContext Framework retains a reference to any ApplicationContext that failed to start. Though, it may be the case that things are different when using Spring Boot's testing support -- for example, I noticed SpringApplicationShutdownHook in your screenshot.

---

Can you please expound on what you mean by "fails loading"?

Also, please provide a sample application that demonstrates the issue you are encountering -- preferably as a Git repo or Zip file that we can download and run.

Stack traces for the failure scenarios would also be useful so that we can better see where things are going wrong.

[ewirch]

Though, it may be the case that things are different when using Spring Boot's testing support

@sbrannen, you were right, Spring Boot's SpringApplicationShutdownHook is necessary to trigger the problem. I created an issue over there: spring-projects/spring-boot#29874.

[sbrannen]

@sbrannen, you were right, Spring Boot's SpringApplicationShutdownHook is necessary to trigger the problem. I created an issue over there: spring-projects/spring-boot#29874.

Thanks!