.net – Why does a System.Timers.Timer survive GC but not System.Threading.Timer

It appears that System.Timers.Timer instances are kept alive by some mechanism, but System.Threading.Timer instances are not.

Sample program, with a periodic System.Threading.Timer and auto-reset System.Timers.Timer:

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    var timer1 = new System.Threading.Timer(
      _ => Console.WriteLine("Stayin alive (1)..."),
      null,
      0,
      400);

    var timer2 = new System.Timers.Timer
    {
      Interval = 400,
      AutoReset = true
    };
    timer2.Elapsed += (_, __) => Console.WriteLine("Stayin alive (2)...");
    timer2.Enabled = true;

    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);

    Console.WriteLine("Invoking GC.Collect...");
    GC.Collect();

    Console.ReadKey();
  }
}

When I run this program (.NET 4.0 Client, Release, outside the debugger), only the System.Threading.Timer is GC'ed:

Stayin alive (1)...
Stayin alive (1)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (1)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (1)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (1)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Invoking GC.Collect...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...
Stayin alive (2)...

EDIT: I've accepted John's answer below, but I wanted to expound on it a bit.

When running the sample program above (with a breakpoint at Sleep), here's the state of the objects in question and the GCHandle table:

!dso
OS Thread Id: 0x838 (2104)
ESP/REG  Object   Name
0012F03C 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])
0012F040 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F17C 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])
0012F184 00c2c034 System.Threading.Timer
0012F3A8 00c2bf30 System.Threading.TimerCallback
0012F3AC 00c2c008 System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler
0012F3BC 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F3C0 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F3C4 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F3C8 00c2bf50 System.Threading.Timer
0012F3CC 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F3D0 00c2bfb0 System.Timers.Timer
0012F3D4 00c2bf50 System.Threading.Timer
0012F3D8 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])
0012F4C4 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])
0012F66C 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])
0012F6A0 00c2bee4 System.Object[]    (System.String[])

!gcroot -nostacks 00c2bf50

!gcroot -nostacks 00c2c034
DOMAIN(0015DC38):HANDLE(Strong):9911c0:Root:  00c2c05c(System.Threading._TimerCallback)->
  00c2bfe8(System.Threading.TimerCallback)->
  00c2bfb0(System.Timers.Timer)->
  00c2c034(System.Threading.Timer)

!gchandles
GC Handle Statistics:
Strong Handles:       22
Pinned Handles:       5
Async Pinned Handles: 0
Ref Count Handles:    0
Weak Long Handles:    0
Weak Short Handles:   0
Other Handles:        0
Statistics:
      MT    Count    TotalSize Class Name
7aa132b4        1           12 System.Diagnostics.TraceListenerCollection
79b9f720        1           12 System.Object
79ba1c50        1           28 System.SharedStatics
79ba37a8        1           36 System.Security.PermissionSet
79baa940        2           40 System.Threading._TimerCallback
79b9ff20        1           84 System.ExecutionEngineException
79b9fed4        1           84 System.StackOverflowException
79b9fe88        1           84 System.OutOfMemoryException
79b9fd44        1           84 System.Exception
7aa131b0        2           96 System.Diagnostics.DefaultTraceListener
79ba1000        1          112 System.AppDomain
79ba0104        3          144 System.Threading.Thread
79b9ff6c        2          168 System.Threading.ThreadAbortException
79b56d60        9        17128 System.Object[]
Total 27 objects

As John pointed out in his answer, both timers register their callback (System.Threading._TimerCallback) in the GCHandle table. As Hans pointed out in his comment, the state parameter is also kept alive when this is done.

As John pointed out, the reason System.Timers.Timer is kept alive is because it is referenced by the callback (it is passed as the state parameter to the inner System.Threading.Timer); likewise, the reason our System.Threading.Timer is GC'ed is because it is not referenced by its callback.

Adding an explicit reference to timer1's callback (e.g., Console.WriteLine("Stayin alive (" + timer1.GetType().FullName + ")")) is sufficient to prevent GC.

Using the single-parameter constructor on System.Threading.Timer also works, because the timer will then reference itself as the state parameter. The following code keeps both timers alive after the GC, since they are each referenced by their callback from the GCHandle table:

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    System.Threading.Timer timer1 = null;
    timer1 = new System.Threading.Timer(_ => Console.WriteLine("Stayin alive (1)..."));
    timer1.Change(0, 400);

    var timer2 = new System.Timers.Timer
    {
      Interval = 400,
      AutoReset = true
    };
    timer2.Elapsed += (_, __) => Console.WriteLine("Stayin alive (2)...");
    timer2.Enabled = true;

    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);

    Console.WriteLine("Invoking GC.Collect...");
    GC.Collect();

    Console.ReadKey();
  }
}