[libvirt] "invalid connection pointer in virConnectClose" from Python bindings

[Charles Duffy <Charles_Duffy messageone com>]

Howdy.

I'm calling libvirt from a program which occasionally has cause to 
fork() without an immediate exec(). For the sake of simplicity, I 
presently call close() on all my virConnect objects [which I then 
delete] before forking and create new ones later. (I'm not forcing an 
explicit pre-fork garbage collection at present -- hopefully the close() 
should make one unnecessary).

However, libvirt complains (and very occasionally segfaults) as I try to 
close the connections:

libvir: error : invalid connection pointer in virConnectClose
libvir: error : invalid connection pointer in virConnectClose

Are there any practices I should be following to avoid this? 
Alternatively, if it is likely to be related to an issue in the Python 
bindings, is there something I could do to diagnose?

Thanks!