GHC garbage collector

[Rahul Bhargava]

Hi,

I have some code that uses FFI capabilities to associate previously allocated
memory with a structure akin to a ByteArray and allows Haskell land to read
and write to the C side of things.

I use ForeignPtr and associate a destructor to allow the GHC's garbage
collector to clean up after it figures out that the structure is no longer
being used. I know I am in funny territory.

In some instances (when benchmarking) GHC takes its time getting around to
garbage collecting. Can someone suggest hooks to encourage GHC to clean up
things? Or better still functions to instruct GHC to garbage collect specific
structures (by calling relevant destructors)? Also comments on how safe this
whole business is.

Before I launch myself into making obscene calls to GHC's internals, I should
know what I am dealing with.

Cheers
Rahul