String replacements leak small amounts of memory each time

[oyvindh]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i486
OS: linux-gnu
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i486' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i486-pc-linux-gnu' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='pc' -DLOCALEDIR='/usr/share/locale' -DPACKAGE='bash' -DSHELL 
-DHAVE_CONFIG_H   -I.  -I../bash -I../bash/include -I../bash/lib   -g -O2 -Wall
uname output: Linux vampiric 2.6.32-3-686-bigmem #1 SMP Thu Feb 25 06:54:30 UTC 
2010 i686 GNU/Linux
Machine Type: i486-pc-linux-gnu

Bash Version: 4.1
Patch Level: 5
Release Status: release

Description:
        When used in a script that iterates over several thousand lines of logs 
or similar data, the bash string replacement functions seem to leak memory. The 
Repeat-By list uses "ls -lR" to generate input, but any data will do (try your 
system logs)

Repeat-By:
        Start a shell, and start "top" or some other resource monitoring tool

        Try one of the following:
        while read line; do test=${line%%/*}; done < <(ls -lR)
        while read line; do test=${line//a/b}; done < <(ls -lR)
        while read line; do test=${line#\ }; done < <(ls -lR)

        Also, geirha in #bash on irc.freenode.net suggested:
        var=x; for j in {1..50}; do ps -osize=,vsize= -p $$; for i in 
{1..1000}; do var=${var%%*/}; done; done;

Fix:
        Running the replacement in a subshell is a slow workaround, but it 
takes 50% more time for 50000 lines in my test.
        while read line; do test=$(echo ${line//a/b}); done < <(ls -lR)