Weak References

While Python has a builtin weakref module it only allows one to create weak references to Python objects, but with PyGObject the Python object “wrapping” a GObject and the GObject itself might not have the same lifetime. The wrapper can get garbage collected and a new wrapper created again at a later point.

If you want to get notified when the underlying GObject gets finalized use GObject.Object.weak_ref():

GObject.Object.weak_ref(callback, *user_data)

Registers a callback to be called when the underlying GObject gets finalized. The callback will receive the give user_data.

To unregister the callback call the unref() method of the returned GObjectWeakRef object.

Parameters:

  • callback (callable()) – A callback which will be called when the object is finalized

  • user_data – User data that will be passed to the callback

Returns:

GObjectWeakRef