http://www.s3mobileapps.com/index.htmlMy mobile discoveriesenSomya JainCoyright 2011, Somya Jain2012-11-09T10:44:35-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:32:54 -0400Somya JainiOS2011-12-16T09:46:02-05:00http://www.s3mobileapps.com/blog/files/zombies_in_unit_tests.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.s3mobileapps.com/blog/files/zombies_in_unit_tests.html#unique-entry-id-0Ever get those pesky EXC_BAD_ACCESS errors due to over released memory in unit tests? For me, it was crashing octest, and other tests were not executing. Although, I could set a breakpoint in the debugger when this happened, but I wasn’t able to figure out where this memory was allocated and when it was released.

Here is how I found the root cause for my issue. I’d love to hear if there is an easier way.

• Step 1. Ensure NSZombieEnabled=YES is set. Set up a breakpoint in setUp method of your unit test.
• Step 2. Run the unit test in the simulator with a debugger (⌘U).
• Step 3. After the breakpoint is hit. Launch Instruments and use the “Zombies” instrument.
• Step 4. Select Target->Attach to Process and then select “octest”.
• Step 5. Continue your code in Xcode, and watch as the zombie is detected and a flag is added in instruments.
• Step 6. Double click on the flag to see where the memory was allocated and fix the issue.
• Step 7. Repeat to ensure that the issue is fixed.

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