Reference Counting
******************

The macros in this section are used for managing reference counts of
Python objects.

void Py_INCREF(PyObject *o)

   Increment the reference count for object *o*.

   This function is usually used to convert a *borrowed reference* to
   a *strong reference* in-place. The "Py_NewRef()" function can be
   used to create a new *strong reference*.

   The object must not be "NULL"; if you aren't sure that it isn't
   "NULL", use "Py_XINCREF()".

void Py_XINCREF(PyObject *o)

   Increment the reference count for object *o*.  The object may be
   "NULL", in which case the macro has no effect.

   See also "Py_XNewRef()".

PyObject *Py_NewRef(PyObject *o)
    * Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10.*

   Create a new *strong reference* to an object: increment the
   reference count of the object *o* and return the object *o*.

   When the *strong reference* is no longer needed, "Py_DECREF()"
   should be called on it to decrement the object reference count.

   The object *o* must not be "NULL"; use "Py_XNewRef()" if *o* can be
   "NULL".

   For example:

      Py_INCREF(obj);
      self->attr = obj;

   can be written as:

      self->attr = Py_NewRef(obj);

   See also "Py_INCREF()".

   New in version 3.10.

PyObject *Py_XNewRef(PyObject *o)
    * Part of the Stable ABI since version 3.10.*

   Similar to "Py_NewRef()", but the object *o* can be NULL.

   If the object *o* is "NULL", the function just returns "NULL".

   New in version 3.10.

void Py_DECREF(PyObject *o)

   Decrement the reference count for object *o*.

   If the reference count reaches zero, the object's type's
   deallocation function (which must not be "NULL") is invoked.

   This function is usually used to delete a *strong reference* before
   exiting its scope.

   The object must not be "NULL"; if you aren't sure that it isn't
   "NULL", use "Py_XDECREF()".

   Warning:

     The deallocation function can cause arbitrary Python code to be
     invoked (e.g. when a class instance with a "__del__()" method is
     deallocated).  While exceptions in such code are not propagated,
     the executed code has free access to all Python global variables.
     This means that any object that is reachable from a global
     variable should be in a consistent state before "Py_DECREF()" is
     invoked.  For example, code to delete an object from a list
     should copy a reference to the deleted object in a temporary
     variable, update the list data structure, and then call
     "Py_DECREF()" for the temporary variable.

void Py_XDECREF(PyObject *o)

   Decrement the reference count for object *o*.  The object may be
   "NULL", in which case the macro has no effect; otherwise the effect
   is the same as for "Py_DECREF()", and the same warning applies.

void Py_CLEAR(PyObject *o)

   Decrement the reference count for object *o*.  The object may be
   "NULL", in which case the macro has no effect; otherwise the effect
   is the same as for "Py_DECREF()", except that the argument is also
   set to "NULL".  The warning for "Py_DECREF()" does not apply with
   respect to the object passed because the macro carefully uses a
   temporary variable and sets the argument to "NULL" before
   decrementing its reference count.

   It is a good idea to use this macro whenever decrementing the
   reference count of an object that might be traversed during garbage
   collection.

The following functions are for runtime dynamic embedding of Python:
"Py_IncRef(PyObject *o)", "Py_DecRef(PyObject *o)". They are simply
exported function versions of "Py_XINCREF()" and "Py_XDECREF()",
respectively.

The following functions or macros are only for use within the
interpreter core: "_Py_Dealloc()", "_Py_ForgetReference()",
"_Py_NewReference()", as well as the global variable "_Py_RefTotal".