Sorry, I lied...

>STACK_END is more far from rb_gc_stack_start on 1.times { pause }
>(same thing happens on loop { pause }) this means ruby uses more stack
>on block execution.
>
>Because rb_gc_mark_locations marks all objects in the range of STACK_END to rb_gc_stack_start.
>if GC.start runs inside block, block needs more stack, so more objects can be wrongly
>marked as alive. (As you can see, last `pause` is outside of block, so less stack is used,
>huge array goes out of stack range, it is freed)

Index: gc.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /src/ruby/gc.c,v
retrieving revision 1.168.2.37
diff -u -w -b -p -r1.168.2.37 gc.c
--- gc.c	13 Feb 2006 09:10:53 -0000	1.168.2.37
+++ gc.c	28 Feb 2006 08:34:43 -0000
@@ -594,6 +594,18 @@ gc_mark_rest()
     }
 }
 
+static VALUE watching = 1;
+
+#define GET_WATCHING() (watching - 1)
+#define SET_WATCHING(value) (watching = value + 1)
+
+static VALUE
+rb_gc_watch(VALUE self, VALUE obj)
+{
+    SET_WATCHING(obj);
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
 static inline int
 is_pointer_to_heap(ptr)
     void *ptr;
@@ -620,8 +632,14 @@ mark_locations_array(x, n)
     register long n;
 {
     VALUE v;
+
     while (n--) {
         v = *x;
+        if (GET_WATCHING()) {
+	    if (GET_WATCHING() == v) {
+		printf("---> %p\n", x);
+	    }
+	}
 	if (is_pointer_to_heap((void *)v)) {
 	    gc_mark(v, 0);
 	}
@@ -1148,6 +1166,12 @@ obj_free(obj)
 	break;
     }
 
+    if (GET_WATCHING()) {
+	if (GET_WATCHING() == obj) {
+	    SET_WATCHING(0);
+	}
+    }
+
     if (FL_TEST(obj, FL_EXIVAR)) {
 	rb_free_generic_ivar((VALUE)obj);
     }
@@ -1354,6 +1378,9 @@ garbage_collect()
     setjmp(save_regs_gc_mark);
     mark_locations_array((VALUE*)save_regs_gc_mark, sizeof(save_regs_gc_mark) / sizeof(VALUE *));
 #if STACK_GROW_DIRECTION < 0
+    if (GET_WATCHING()) {
+	printf("=============> %p %p\n", STACK_END, rb_gc_stack_start);
+    }
     rb_gc_mark_locations((VALUE*)STACK_END, rb_gc_stack_start);
 #elif STACK_GROW_DIRECTION > 0
     rb_gc_mark_locations(rb_gc_stack_start, (VALUE*)STACK_END + 1);
@@ -1926,6 +1953,7 @@ Init_GC()
     rb_define_singleton_method(rb_mGC, "enable", rb_gc_enable, 0);
     rb_define_singleton_method(rb_mGC, "disable", rb_gc_disable, 0);
     rb_define_method(rb_mGC, "garbage_collect", rb_gc_start, 0);
+    rb_define_singleton_method(rb_mGC, "watch", rb_gc_watch, 1);
 
     rb_mObSpace = rb_define_module("ObjectSpace");
     rb_define_module_function(rb_mObSpace, "each_object", os_each_obj, -1);

///////////////////////////////////////


def format(num)
  num.to_s.gsub(/(\d{1,3})(?=\d{3}+$)/) { $1 + "," }
end

def count(type)
   count = 0
   capacity = 0
   ObjectSpace.each_object(type) do |o|
     count += 1
     capacity += o.capacity
   end
   puts "#{type}"
   puts "  count = #{format(count)}"
   puts "  capacity = #{format(capacity)}"
end

def pause(run_gc = true)
   GC.enable
   GC.start
   GC.disable
   count(String)
   count(Array)
   puts
   sleep 5
end

class A
  def run
    arr = []
    GC.watch(arr)
    800000.times { arr << "d" * 7 }
    pause
   end
end

GC.disable
A.new.run
1.times { pause }
pause

///////////////////////////////////////

E:\ruby-cvs\win32_1_8>miniruby \a.rb
=============> 0012E4AC 0012FFFC
---> 0012E5D4
---> 0012E738
---> 0012EFF8
---> 0012F630
String
  count = 800,111
  capacity = 5,602,208

=============> 0012DD00 0012FFFC
---> 0012F630 # shalow enough ( > 0012ED38 )
String
  count = 800,115
  capacity = 5,602,270

=============> 0012ED38 0012FFFC
String
  count = 112
  capacity = 2,214