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MALLOC(9)MALLOC(9)

NAME

malloc, mallocz, smalloc, realloc, free, msize, secalloc, secfree, setmalloctag, setrealloctag, getmalloctag, getrealloctag – kernel memory allocator

SYNOPSIS

void* malloc(ulong size)

void* mallocalign(ulong size, ulong align, long offset, ulong span)

void* mallocz(ulong size, int clr)

void* smalloc(ulong size)

void* realloc(void *p, ulong size)

void free(void *ptr)

ulong msize(void *ptr)

void* secalloc(ulong size)

void secfree(void *ptr)

void setmalloctag(void *ptr, ulong tag)

ulong getmalloctag(void *ptr)

void setrealloctag(void *ptr, ulong tag)

ulong getrealloctag(void *ptr)

DESCRIPTION

These are kernel versions of the functions in malloc(2). They allocate memory from the mainmem memory pool, which is managed by the allocator pool(2), which in turn replenishes the pool as required by calling xalloc(9). All but smalloc (which calls sleep(9)) may safely be called by interrupt handlers.

Malloc returns a pointer to a block of at least size bytes, initialised to zero. The block is suitably aligned for storage of any type of object. The call malloc(0) returns a valid pointer rather than null. Mallocz is similar, but only clears the memory if clr is non-zero.

Smalloc returns a pointer to a block of size bytes, initialised to zero. If the memory is not immediately available, smalloc retries every 100 milliseconds until the memory is acquired.

Mallocalign allocates a block of at least n bytes of memory respecting alignment contraints. If align is non-zero, the returned pointer is aligned to be equal to offset modulo align. If span is non-zero, the n byte block allocated will not span a span-byte boundary.

Realloc changes the size of the block pointed to by p to size bytes, if possible without moving the data, and returns a pointer to the block. The contents are unchanged up to the lesser of old and new sizes, and any new space allocated is initialised to zero. Realloc takes on special meanings when one or both arguments are zero:

means malloc(size); returns a pointer to the newly-allocated memory  

means free(ptr); returns null  

no-op; returns null  

The argument to free is a pointer to a block of memory allocated by one of the routines above, which is returned to the allocation pool, or a null pointer, which is ignored.

When a block is allocated, sometimes there is some extra unused space at the end. Msize grows the block to encompass this unused space and returns the new number of bytes that may be used.

Secalloc and secfree are security-aware functions that use a pool flagged by POOL_ANTAGONISM (see pool(2)), which fills every allocated block with garbage before and after its use, to prevent leakage.

The memory allocator maintains two word-sized fields associated with each block, the “malloc tag” and the “realloc tag”. By convention, the malloc tag is the PC that allocated the block, and the realloc tag the PC that last reallocated the block. These may be set or examined with setmalloctag, getmalloctag, setrealloctag, and getrealloctag. When allocating blocks directly with malloc and realloc, these tags will be set properly. If a custom allocator wrapper is used, the allocator wrapper can set the tags itself (usually by passing the result of getcallerpc(2) to setmalloctag) to provide more useful information about the source of allocation.

SOURCE

/sys/src/9/port/alloc.c

DIAGNOSTICS

All functions except smalloc return a null pointer if space is unavailable. If the allocated blocks have no malloc or realloc tags, getmalloctag and getrealloctag return ~0.

SEE

pool(2), xalloc(9)