Bug: Memory Leak / Inappropriate cleanUp - stage.renderGroup cleanUp is not there

[konstantincheban]

Current Behavior

When analysing the memory report I noticed that after closing the view with PIXI app I still see PIXI instances in the memory. Digging deeper into the chain, I noticed a common instance for leaked elements is renderGroup. Then I noticed renderGroup is cleared for elements in the Container.removeChild method:

pixijs/src/scene/container/RenderGroup.ts

Line 188 in 78824e4

child.renderGroup = null;

However for the stage element this method is not called as it has no parent:

pixijs/src/app/Application.ts

Line 207 in 78824e4

public destroy(rendererDestroyOptions: RendererDestroyOptions = false, options: DestroyOptions = false): void

pixijs/src/scene/container/container-mixins/childrenHelperMixin.ts

Line 228 in 78824e4

removeFromParent()

On our end, we call the destroy method for app:
_pixi.destroy(true, {children: true, texture: true, baseTexture: true })
*_pixi - PIXI Application instance

Expected Behavior

renderGroup should be cleared for stage to remove references to other elements and let GC do its job.

Steps to Reproduce

Thing I would like to point out is that we are using a slightly unusual approach, we store PIXI on window, perhaps this is the reason why it keeps refs in memory, however it would be cool to clear the renderGroup for stage, this would be valid from my point of view.

Environment

• pixi.js version: 8.1.1
• Browser & Version: 124.0.6367.158 (Official Build) (x86_64)
• OS & Version: MacOS
• Running Example:

Possible Solution

To overcome this issue I remove references to elements manually this way:
_this.pixi.stage.renderGroup.childrenRenderablesToUpdate = {};
_this.pixi.stage.renderGroup.childrenToUpdate = {};
_this.pixi.stage.renderGroup.instructionSet = null;

However it would be great to do it directly in the destroy method of the Application.

Additional Information

Let me know if I missed something or there is already a solution for this issue. Thanks!

[GoodBoyDigital]

interesting! thank you for sharing @konstantincheban and thank you for such a well constructed PR description! Let me take a look!

[GoodBoyDigital]

heya! should be sorted in the next release! If you could verify on this branch that would be ace. Thanks!!

[konstantincheban]

@GoodBoyDigital it works fine now, I don't see this leakage with your fix, clean up works fine. Thank you for resolving this issue!