How to force garbage collection in Java?

Question

Is it possible to force garbage collection in Java, even if it is tricky to do? I know about System.gc(); and Runtime.gc(); but they only suggest t

Answer 1

The following code is taken from the assertGC(...) method. It tries to force the nondeterministic garbage collector to collect.

   List alloc = new ArrayList();
   int size = 100000;
   for (int i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
        if (ref.get() == null) {
             // Test succeeded! Week referenced object has been cleared by gc.
             return;
        }
        try {
             System.gc();
        } catch (OutOfMemoryError error) {
             // OK
        }
        try {
             System.runFinalization();
        } catch (OutOfMemoryError error) {
             // OK
        }

        // Approach the jvm maximal allocatable memory threshold
        try {
             // Allocates memory.
             alloc.add(new byte[size]);

             // The amount of allocated memory is increased for the next iteration.
             size = (int)(((double)size) * 1.3);
        } catch (OutOfMemoryError error) {
             // The amount of allocated memory is decreased for the next iteration.
             size = size / 2;
        }

        try {
             if (i % 3 == 0) Thread.sleep(321);
        } catch (InterruptedException t) {
             // ignore
        }
   }

   // Test failed! 

   // Free resources required for testing
   alloc = null;

   // Try to find out who holds the reference.
   String str = null;
   try {
        str = findRefsFromRoot(ref.get(), rootsHint);
   } catch (Exception e) {
        throw new AssertionFailedErrorException(e);
   } catch (OutOfMemoryError err) {
        // OK
   }
   fail(text + ":\n" + str);

Source (I added some comments for clarity): NbTestCase Example