MALLOC(3) BSD Programmer's Manual MALLOC(3)
malloc, calloc, realloc, free, cfree - memory allocation and deallocation
#include <stdlib.h>
void *
malloc(size_t size);
void *
calloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size);
void *
realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
void
free(void *ptr);
void
cfree(void *ptr);
char * malloc_options;
Note: if using brk(2) malloc instead of mmap(2) malloc, this manual page
is inaccurate, especially regarding the protection functions.
The malloc() function allocates uninitialized space for an object whose
size is specified by size. The malloc() function maintains multiple lists
of free blocks according to size, allocating space from the appropriate
list.
The allocated space is suitably aligned (after possible pointer coercion)
for storage of any type of object. If the space is of pagesize or larger,
the memory returned will be page-aligned.
Allocation of a zero size object returns a pointer to a zero size object.
This zero size object is access protected, so any access to it will gen-
erate an exception (SIGSEGV). Many zero-sized objects can be placed con-
secutively in shared protected pages. The minimum size of the protection
on each object is suitably aligned and sized as previously stated, but
the protection may extend further depending on where in a protected zone
the object lands.
The calloc() function allocates space for an array of nmemb objects, each
of whose size is size. The space is initialized to all bits zero.
The free() function causes the space pointed to by ptr to be deallocated,
that is, at least made available for further allocation, but if possible,
it will be passed back to the kernel with sbrk(2). If ptr is a null
pointer, no action occurs.
A cfree() function is also provided for compatibility with old systems
and other malloc libraries; it is simply an alias for free().
The realloc() function changes the size of the object pointed to by ptr
to size bytes and returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) object. The
contents of the object are unchanged up to the lesser of the new and old
sizes. If the new size is larger, the value of the newly allocated por-
tion of the object is indeterminate and uninitialized. If ptr is a null
pointer, the realloc() function behaves like the malloc() function for
the specified size. If the space cannot be allocated, the object pointed
to by ptr is unchanged. If size is zero and ptr is not a null pointer,
the object it points to is freed and a new zero size object is returned.
When using realloc() one must be careful to avoid the following idiom:
size += 50;
if ((p = realloc(p, size)) == NULL)
return (NULL);
Do not adjust the variable describing how much memory has been allocated
until one knows the allocation has been successful. This can cause aber-
rant program behavior if the incorrect size value is used. In most cases,
the above sample will also result in a leak of memory. As stated earlier,
a return value of NULL indicates that the old object still remains allo-
cated. Better code looks like this:
newsize = size + 50;
if ((newp = realloc(p, newsize)) == NULL) {
free(p);
p = NULL;
size = 0;
return (NULL);
}
p = newp;
size = newsize;
Malloc will first look for a symbolic link called /etc/malloc.conf and
next check the environment for a variable called MALLOC_OPTIONS and fi-
nally for the global variable malloc_options and scan them for flags in
that order. Flags are single letters, uppercase means on, lowercase means
off.
A "Abort". malloc() will coredump the process, rather than tolerate
failure. This is a very handy debugging aid, since the core file
will represent the time of failure, rather than when the null
pointer was accessed.
D "Dump". malloc() will dump statistics in a file called malloc.out
at exit. This option requires the library to have been compiled
with -DMALLOC_STATS in order to have any effect.
F "Freeguard". Enable use after free protection. Unused pages on
the freelist are read and write protected to cause a segmentation
fault upon access.
G "Guard". Enable guard pages and chunk randomization. Each page
size or larger allocation is followed by a guard page that will
cause a segmentation fault upon any access. Smaller than page
size chunks are returned in a random order.
H "Hint". Pass a hint to the kernel about pages we don't use. If
the machine is paging a lot this may help a bit.
J "Junk". Fill some junk into the area allocated. Currently junk is
bytes of 0xd0; this is pronounced "Duh". :-)
N Do not output warning messages when encountering possible corrup-
tion or bad pointers.
P "Pointer Protection". Pointer sized allocations are aligned to
the end of a page to catch sizeof(ptr) errors where sizeof(*ptr)
is meant.
R "realloc". Always reallocate when realloc() is called, even if
the initial allocation was big enough. This can substantially aid
in compacting memory.
X "xmalloc". Rather than return failure, abort(3) the program with
a diagnostic message on stderr. It is the intention that this op-
tion be set at compile time by including in the source:
extern char *malloc_options;
malloc_options = "X";
Z "Zero". Fill some junk into the area allocated (see J), except
for the exact length the user asked for, which is zeroed.
< "Half the cache size". Reduce the size of the cache by a factor
of two.
> "Double the cache size". Double the size of the cache by a factor
of two.
So to set a systemwide reduction of cache size and coredumps on problems
one would: ln -s 'A<' /etc/malloc.conf
The J and Z flags are mostly for testing and debugging. If a program
changes behavior if either of these options are used, it is buggy.
The default cache size is 16 pages.
The malloc() and calloc() functions return a pointer to the allocated
space if successful; otherwise, a null pointer is returned and errno is
set to ENOMEM.
The free() and cfree() functions return no value.
The realloc() function returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) allocat-
ed space if successful; otherwise, a null pointer is returned and errno
is set to ENOMEM.
MALLOC_OPTIONS See above.
/etc/malloc.conf symbolic link to filename containing option flags
If malloc(), calloc(), realloc(), or free() detect an error or warning
condition, a message will be printed to file descriptor 2 (not using
stdio). Errors will always result in the process being abort(3)'ed. If
the A option has been specified, warnings will also abort(3) the process.
Here is a brief description of the error messages and what they mean:
"(ES): mumble mumble mumble"
malloc() has been compiled with -DEXTRA_SANITY and something
looks fishy in there. Consult sources and/or wizards.
"allocation failed"
If the A option is specified it is an error for malloc(), cal-
loc(), or realloc() to return NULL.
"mmap(2) failed, check limits."
This is a rather weird condition that is most likely to indicate
a seriously overloaded system or a ulimit(1) restriction.
"freelist is destroyed."
malloc()'s internal freelist has been stomped on.
Here is a brief description of the warning messages and what they mean:
"chunk/page is already free."
There was an attempt to free a chunk that had already been freed.
"junk pointer, too high to make sense."
The pointer doesn't make sense. It's above the area of memory
that malloc() knows something about. This could be a pointer from
some mmap(2)'ed memory.
"junk pointer, too low to make sense."
The pointer doesn't make sense. It's below the area of memory
that malloc() knows something about. This pointer probably came
from your data or bss segments.
"malloc() has never been called."
Nothing has ever been allocated, yet something is being freed or
realloc'ed.
"modified (chunk-/page-) pointer."
The pointer passed to free() or realloc() has been modified.
"pointer to wrong page."
The pointer that malloc() is trying to free is not pointing to a
sensible page.
"recursive call."
An attempt was made to call recursively into these functions,
i.e., from a signal handler. This behavior is not supported. In
particular, signal handlers should not use any of the malloc()
functions nor utilize any other functions which may call malloc()
(e.g., stdio(3) routines).
"unknown char in MALLOC_OPTIONS"
We found something we didn't understand.
brk(2), mmap(2), alloca(3), getpagesize(3)
The malloc() function conforms to ANSI X3.159-1989 ("ANSI C").
The present implementation of malloc() started out as a filesystem on a
drum attached to a 20-bit binary challenged computer built with discrete
germanium transistors, and it has since graduated to handle primary
storage rather than secondary.
The main difference from other malloc() implementations are believed to
be that the free pages are not accessed until allocated. Most malloc()
implementations will store a data structure containing a, possibly
double-, linked list in the free chunks of memory, used to tie all the
free memory together. That is a quite suboptimal thing to do. Every time
the free-list is traversed, all the otherwise unused, and very likely
paged out, pages get faulted into primary memory, just to see what lies
after them in the list.
On systems which are paging, this can increase the page-faults of a pro-
cess by a factor of five.
MirOS BSD #10-current August 27, 1996 3
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