The following dynamic module takes unbounded memory: /* gcc -I . -g -ggdb -fPIC foo.c -shared -o foo.so && echo running && emacs -Q -L . -batch -l foo */ #include int plugin_is_GPL_compatible; int emacs_module_init(struct emacs_runtime *ert) { emacs_env *env = ert->get_environment(ert); while (1) { int i; for (i = 0; i < 10000; i++) { emacs_value v = env->make_string(env, "asdads", 3); env->free_global_ref(env, env->make_global_ref(env, v)); } env->funcall(env, env->intern(env, "garbage-collect"), 0, NULL); } } This is because env->make_global_ref/env->free_global_ref leak memory. env->free_global_ref fails to remove values from the hash table of refcounts. The following patch makes the program above run in constant space. --- src/emacs-module.c 2017-06-30 16:00:36.776301646 -0400 +++ src/emacs-module.c 2017-06-30 16:05:01.660120043 -0400 @@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ set_hash_value_slot (h, i, value); } else - hash_remove_from_table (h, value); + hash_remove_from_table (h, obj); } }