From 55b5097cc28ae2854de90be8d6d5296eb221fb6b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2026 16:23:55 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: release cleared elements in RingBuffer.Clear [patch]

Clear only reset the indices, so every reference-type element that was
logically removed stayed reachable from the backing array until a later
PushBack overwrote its slot. Clear the array first when T holds
references, as the Contiguous containers already do.

Fixes #72

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YXTjHR3MfJpmxt8LEwNkjm
---
 Containers.Test/RingBufferTests.cs | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 Containers/RingBuffer.cs           | 13 +++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 42 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Containers.Test/RingBufferTests.cs b/Containers.Test/RingBufferTests.cs
index 569cb26..32af005 100644
--- a/Containers.Test/RingBufferTests.cs
+++ b/Containers.Test/RingBufferTests.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace ktsu.Containers.Tests;
 
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
 using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
 
 [TestClass]
@@ -260,6 +261,34 @@ public void Clear_AllowsReuseAfterClearing()
 		Assert.AreEqual(7, buffer.At(0));
 	}
 
+	[TestMethod]
+	public void Clear_ReleasesReferencesToClearedElements()
+	{
+		RingBuffer<object> buffer = new(4);
+		WeakReference[] references = FillWithUnreferencedObjects(buffer, 3);
+
+		buffer.Clear();
+		GC.Collect();
+		GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
+		GC.Collect();
+
+		Assert.IsFalse(references.Any(r => r.IsAlive));
+	}
+
+	[MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)]
+	private static WeakReference[] FillWithUnreferencedObjects(RingBuffer<object> buffer, int count)
+	{
+		WeakReference[] references = new WeakReference[count];
+		for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
+		{
+			object item = new();
+			buffer.PushBack(item);
+			references[i] = new WeakReference(item);
+		}
+
+		return references;
+	}
+
 	[TestMethod]
 	public void Constructor_NonPositiveLength_Throws()
 	{
diff --git a/Containers/RingBuffer.cs b/Containers/RingBuffer.cs
index c4a0f1f..5df3c93 100644
--- a/Containers/RingBuffer.cs
+++ b/Containers/RingBuffer.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ namespace ktsu.Containers;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
 using System.Linq;
+#if NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
+#endif
 
 /// <summary>
 /// Represents a fixed-size circular buffer (ring buffer) for storing elements of type <typeparamref name="T"/>.
@@ -303,6 +306,16 @@ public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator()
 	/// </remarks>
 	public void Clear()
 	{
+#if NET5_0_OR_GREATER
+		if (RuntimeHelpers.IsReferenceOrContainsReferences<T>())
+#else
+		if (!typeof(T).IsValueType)
+#endif
+		{
+			// Clear references so cleared elements can be collected
+			Array.Clear(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length);
+		}
+
 		BackIndex = 0;
 		FrontIndex = 0;
 		Count = 0;