Memory Leak in IDL Java Bridge Code

QUESTION: Currently I am working on a processing line for EUMETSAT MPE data, which comes in the very user-friendly (I joke!) adjusted GRIB2 format. I managed to find a Java library that reads the files, and gives me an array of raw doubles. I use the IDL Java Export Bridge to export this data to IDL, where I project, subset, warp and save my data subsets.

The Java retrieval in itself (without actually calling IDL) runs fine. The IDL script in itself run fine. Combined, they run fine for 20-30 files. Then the scripts starts to generate errors. When this happens, Java continues reading files, but skips the IDL bridge. I am running this in Windows, and in my memory overview I see that when I include the IDL processing, memory fills a little more with each file. Do you suppose this is due to a memory leak?

ANSWER: Apparently so. According to this article on the IDL newsgroup, there is a memory leak in the Java Export Bridge code. It has apparently been fixed, but is present in all IDL versions through version 7.0.1. It is a simple fix, just a couple of files need to be swapped, but you will need to contact the IDL Technical Support staff to see if you can get the updated files.

Version of IDL used to prepare this article: IDL 7.0.1.