Use and Abuse of .register_buffer( )

[mbp28]

Hi,

I have some trouble understanding the use of register_buffer().
I found just a little bit of explanation in the docs, mentioning "running_mean" in BatchNorm.

My questions are:
1. When should I register a buffer? For what sort of Variables and for which not?
2. Could someone provide me with a simple example and code snippet of using register_buffer()?
[3.] At the moment, I'm running some tests on an implementation of a custom gradient, which I subsequently modify. record the gradients before and after modification in two separate lists. Is that something I should consider register_buffer for to make the code cleaner? I guess not, if the buffer only holds one state at a time..

Any help much appreciated.
Many thanks,
Max

[smth]

you use register_buffer when:
- you want a stateful part of your model that is not a parameter, but you want it in your state_dict
- https://github.com/pytorch/pytorch/blob/master/torch/nn/modules/batchnorm.py#L23-L24
- registered buffers are Tensors (not Variables)