Free traceback from references to locals() in each frame to avoid circular reference leading to gc.collect() unable to reclaim memory

def get_ref_free_exc_info():
    "Free traceback from references to locals() in each frame to avoid circular reference leading to gc.collect() unable to reclaim memory"
    type, val, tb = sys.exc_info()
    traceback.clear_frames(tb)
    return (type, val, tb)