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* Mmalloc: (mmalloc).           The GNU mapped-malloc package.

END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents the GNU mmalloc (mapped-malloc) package, written

by fnf@cygnus.com, based on GNU malloc written by mike@ai.mit.edu.

   Copyright (C) 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this

manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are

preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of

this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also

that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms

of a permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this

manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified

versions.

File: mmalloc.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Overview,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)

mmalloc

*******

   This file documents the GNU memory-mapped malloc package mmalloc.

* Menu:

* Overview::                    Overall Description

* Implementation::              Implementation

 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Implementation

* Compatibility::               Backwards Compatibility

* Functions::                   Function Descriptions

File: mmalloc.info,  Node: Overview,  Next: Implementation,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Overall Description

*******************

   This is a heavily modified version of GNU `malloc'.  It uses `mmap'

as the basic mechanism for obtaining memory from the system, rather

than `sbrk'.  This gives it several advantages over the more

traditional malloc:

   * Several different heaps can be used, each of them growing or

     shinking under control of `mmap', with the `mmalloc' functions

     using a specific heap on a call by call basis.

   * By using `mmap', it is easy to create heaps which are intended to

     be persistent and exist as a filesystem object after the creating

     process has gone away.

   * Because multiple heaps can be managed, data used for a specific

     purpose can be allocated into its own heap, making it easier to

     allow applications to "dump" and "restore" initialized

     malloc-managed memory regions.  For example, the "unexec" hack

     popularized by GNU Emacs could potentially go away.

File: mmalloc.info,  Node: Implementation,  Prev: Overview,  Up: Top

Implementation

**************

   The `mmalloc' functions contain no internal static state.  All

`mmalloc' internal data is allocated in the mapped in region, along

with the user data that it manages.  This allows it to manage multiple

such regions and to "pick up where it left off" when such regions are

later dynamically mapped back in.

   In some sense, malloc has been "purified" to contain no internal

state information and generalized to use multiple memory regions rather

than a single region managed by `sbrk'.  However the new routines now

need an extra parameter which informs `mmalloc' which memory region it

is dealing with (along with other information).  This parameter is

called the "malloc descriptor".

   The functions initially provided by `mmalloc' are:

     void *mmalloc_attach (int fd, void *baseaddr);

     void *mmalloc_detach (void *md);

     int mmalloc_errno (void *md);

     int mmalloc_setkey (void *md, int keynum, void *key);

     void *mmalloc_getkey (void *md, int keynum);

     void *mmalloc (void *md, size_t size);

     void *mrealloc (void *md, void *ptr, size_t size);

     void *mvalloc (void *md, size_t size);

     void mfree (void *md, void *ptr);

* Menu:

* Compatibility::               Backwards Compatibility

* Functions::                   Function Descriptions

File: mmalloc.info,  Node: Compatibility,  Next: Functions,  Prev: Implementation,  Up: Implementation

Backwards Compatibility

=======================

   To allow a single malloc package to be used in a given application,

provision is made for the traditional `malloc', `realloc', and `free'

functions to be implemented as special cases of the `mmalloc'

functions.  In particular, if any of the functions that expect malloc

descriptors are called with a `NULL' pointer rather than a valid malloc

descriptor, then they default to using an `sbrk' managed region.  The

`mmalloc' package provides compatible `malloc', `realloc', and `free'

functions using this mechanism internally.  Applications can avoid this

extra interface layer by simply including the following defines:

     #define malloc(size)               mmalloc ((void *)0, (size))

     #define realloc(ptr,size)  mrealloc ((void *)0, (ptr), (size));

     #define free(ptr)          mfree ((void *)0, (ptr))

or replace the existing `malloc', `realloc', and `free' calls with the

above patterns if using `#define' causes problems.

File: mmalloc.info,  Node: Functions,  Prev: Compatibility,  Up: Implementation

Function Descriptions

=====================

   These are the details on the functions that make up the `mmalloc'

package.

`void *mmalloc_attach (int FD, void *BASEADDR);'

     Initialize access to a `mmalloc' managed region.

     If FD is a valid file descriptor for an open file, then data for

     the `mmalloc' managed region is mapped to that file.   Otherwise

     `/dev/zero' is used and the data will not exist in any filesystem

     object.

     If the open file corresponding to FD is from a previous use of

     `mmalloc' and passes some basic sanity checks to ensure that it is

     compatible with the current `mmalloc' package, then its data is

     mapped in and is immediately accessible at the same addresses in

     the current process as the process that created the file.

     If BASEADDR is not `NULL', the mapping is established starting at

     the specified address in the process address space.  If BASEADDR

     is `NULL', the `mmalloc' package chooses a suitable address at

     which to start the mapped region, which will be the value of the

     previous mapping if opening an existing file which was previously

     built by `mmalloc', or for new files will be a value chosen by

     `mmap'.

     Specifying BASEADDR provides more control over where the regions

     start and how big they can be before bumping into existing mapped

     regions or future mapped regions.

     On success, returns a malloc descriptor which is used in subsequent

     calls to other `mmalloc' package functions.  It is explicitly

     `void *' (`char *' for systems that don't fully support `void') so

     that users of the package don't have to worry about the actual

     implementation details.

     On failure returns `NULL'.

`void *mmalloc_detach (void *MD);'

     Terminate access to a `mmalloc' managed region identified by the

     descriptor MD, by closing the base file and unmapping all memory

     pages associated with the region.

     Returns `NULL' on success.

     Returns the malloc descriptor on failure, which can subsequently

     be used for further action (such as obtaining more information

     about the nature of the failure).

`void *mmalloc (void *MD, size_t SIZE);'

     Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD, allocate additional memory of

     SIZE bytes in the associated mapped region.

`*mrealloc (void *MD, void *PTR, size_t SIZE);'

     Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD and a pointer to memory

     previously allocated by `mmalloc' in PTR, reallocate the memory to

     be SIZE bytes long, possibly moving the existing contents of

     memory if necessary.

`void *mvalloc (void *MD, size_t SIZE);'

     Like `mmalloc' but the resulting memory is aligned on a page

     boundary.

`void mfree (void *MD, void *PTR);'

     Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD and a pointer to memory previously

     allocated by `mmalloc' in PTR, free the previously allocated

     memory.

`int mmalloc_errno (void *MD);'

     Given a `mmalloc' descriptor, if the last `mmalloc' operation

     failed for some reason due to a system call failure, then returns

     the associated `errno'.  Returns 0 otherwise.  (This function is

     not yet implemented).

Tag Table:

Node: Top939

Node: Overview1375

Node: Implementation2403

Node: Compatibility3796

Node: Functions4870

End Tag Table