what is gc.set_debug() for

[Humpty Dumpty]

Hello, I read the docs for gc module and did search with google. It's not
clear what gc.set_debug(DEBUG_LEAK) is for, though it is recommended to
diagnose mem leaks. There are 3 or 4 discussions that come up with google
that call gc.set_debug(), but when I take that line out I don't see any
difference. I.e., there's no extra info printed when garbage is collected,
when gc.garbage examined, etc, I'm assuming it's something along those lines
that debug level should do, but am dumbfounded. Thanks in advance for any
help.

Oliver