Question

Let´s say I have a logger class that has an attribute pointing to an open file. This file should be open until this class is no longer used. Something like:

class MyLogger
  attr_accessor :log_file
  def initialize
    @log_file = File.new('my_log_file_name.log','w')
  end

  def finalize(id)
    @log_file.close
  end
end

How can I ensure that when I will no longer use this instance, the file handle will be closed? I´ve tried this but with no effect:

l = MyLogger.new
l = nil
ObjectSpace.garbage_collect

After this, if I try to delete the file it will throw an error stating that the file is in use.

Answer 1

Just close tha file handle through a method call. It does not really make sense to do it any other way, especially waiting for the garbage collector. If you know hen you are done with it do your cleanup at that point.