Unable to clear mex file

I'm compiling a mex file and then moving it up a directory so that it is in the Matlab path. The movefile command fails with the error message: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process."

The mex file is located in a package, so before calling the movefile command, I call:

clear('my_package.myMexFunction')

This however doesn't fix the problem. TMW suggests that it may be a memory leak: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/100577-why-am-i-unable-to-delete-mex-functions-from-memory-using-the-clear-mex-command

However, the mex code is relatively simple, with the only memory allocation being for the output:

      plhs[0] = mxCreateLogicalMatrix(1,1);
      mxLogical *pl = mxGetLogicals(plhs[0]);

I don't free anything in the mex file.

Running 'clear all' fixes the problem and lets me move the file. Is there an alternative?

[Walter Roberson]

Is it possible that there is a lingering handle to the function in an object that belongs to the package?

[Jim Hokanson]

Unfortunately I got distracted with other things and now I can't find the test case that I was using :/

Answer 1

[James Tursa]

I hadn't seen that TMW post about memory leaks and clearing mex routines. Not sure what the issue is there and what the other "process" is.

What is the actual name of your mex function file? Can you clear that name directly? E.g.,

% some code here to call a mex routine named "mymex.mexw32"
[M X] = inmem
% results for X list mymex
clear mymex
[M X] = inmem
% results for X no longer list mymex (i.e., it has been cleared)

[Jim Hokanson]

I finally got back to writing some of this code and encountered this problem again (although apparently a different file since this one was not in a package). Clearing the mex file worked great. Strangely I only encountered this problem on Windows, not on Mac (although versions may be different).