PHP is using reference counter garbage collection so it is not able to deallocate objects with cyclic references. But
it should not be a reason for corrupting memory. The following example cause either loosing value of object property either segmentation fault at PHP 4.3.1 and PHP-4.3.2RC1. The fault takes place after inserting 65533
objects (0xfffd - looks like somewhere short type is used:).
In first case after inserting about 65k of objects the system reports "PHP Notice:  Undefined property:" when 
accessing "opened" field in storeObject.


<?php


class Storage { 
    var $opened;
    var $count;

    function Storage() { 
        $this->objByOidMap = array();
        $this->opened = true;
        $this->count = 0;
    }

    function storeObject(&$obj) {
        if ($this->opened) { 
            if ($obj->__oid__ == 0) {   
                $this->count += 1;
                $obj->__oid__ = $this->count;
                $obj->__storage__ = &$this;
                $this->objByOidMap[$obj->__oid__] = &$obj;
            }
        }
    }
}

class Object {
    var $__storage__;
    var $__oid__;
}

$storage = &new Storage();
for ($i = 0; $i < 100000; $i++) {
    print("i=$i\n");
    $obj = &new Object();
    $storage->storeObject($obj);
}

?>