220 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
220 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
This is ./mmalloc.info, produced by Makeinfo version 3.12f from
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mmalloc.texi.
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START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
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* Mmalloc: (mmalloc). The GNU mapped-malloc package.
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END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
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This file documents the GNU mmalloc (mapped-malloc) package, written
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by fnf@cygnus.com, based on GNU malloc written by mike@ai.mit.edu.
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Copyright (C) 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
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manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
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preserved on all copies.
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Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
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this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also
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that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms
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of a permission notice identical to this one.
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Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
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manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
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versions.
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File: mmalloc.info, Node: Top, Next: Overview, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
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mmalloc
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*******
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This file documents the GNU memory-mapped malloc package mmalloc.
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* Menu:
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* Overview:: Overall Description
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* Implementation:: Implementation
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--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
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Implementation
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* Compatibility:: Backwards Compatibility
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* Functions:: Function Descriptions
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File: mmalloc.info, Node: Overview, Next: Implementation, Prev: Top, Up: Top
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Overall Description
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*******************
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This is a heavily modified version of GNU `malloc'. It uses `mmap'
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as the basic mechanism for obtaining memory from the system, rather
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than `sbrk'. This gives it several advantages over the more
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traditional malloc:
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* Several different heaps can be used, each of them growing or
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shinking under control of `mmap', with the `mmalloc' functions
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using a specific heap on a call by call basis.
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* By using `mmap', it is easy to create heaps which are intended to
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be persistent and exist as a filesystem object after the creating
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process has gone away.
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* Because multiple heaps can be managed, data used for a specific
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purpose can be allocated into its own heap, making it easier to
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allow applications to "dump" and "restore" initialized
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malloc-managed memory regions. For example, the "unexec" hack
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popularized by GNU Emacs could potentially go away.
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File: mmalloc.info, Node: Implementation, Prev: Overview, Up: Top
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Implementation
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**************
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The `mmalloc' functions contain no internal static state. All
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`mmalloc' internal data is allocated in the mapped in region, along
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with the user data that it manages. This allows it to manage multiple
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such regions and to "pick up where it left off" when such regions are
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later dynamically mapped back in.
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In some sense, malloc has been "purified" to contain no internal
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state information and generalized to use multiple memory regions rather
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than a single region managed by `sbrk'. However the new routines now
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need an extra parameter which informs `mmalloc' which memory region it
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is dealing with (along with other information). This parameter is
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called the "malloc descriptor".
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The functions initially provided by `mmalloc' are:
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void *mmalloc_attach (int fd, void *baseaddr);
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void *mmalloc_detach (void *md);
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int mmalloc_errno (void *md);
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int mmalloc_setkey (void *md, int keynum, void *key);
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void *mmalloc_getkey (void *md, int keynum);
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void *mmalloc (void *md, size_t size);
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void *mrealloc (void *md, void *ptr, size_t size);
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void *mvalloc (void *md, size_t size);
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void mfree (void *md, void *ptr);
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* Menu:
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* Compatibility:: Backwards Compatibility
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* Functions:: Function Descriptions
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File: mmalloc.info, Node: Compatibility, Next: Functions, Prev: Implementation, Up: Implementation
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Backwards Compatibility
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=======================
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To allow a single malloc package to be used in a given application,
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provision is made for the traditional `malloc', `realloc', and `free'
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functions to be implemented as special cases of the `mmalloc'
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functions. In particular, if any of the functions that expect malloc
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descriptors are called with a `NULL' pointer rather than a valid malloc
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descriptor, then they default to using an `sbrk' managed region. The
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`mmalloc' package provides compatible `malloc', `realloc', and `free'
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functions using this mechanism internally. Applications can avoid this
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extra interface layer by simply including the following defines:
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#define malloc(size) mmalloc ((void *)0, (size))
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#define realloc(ptr,size) mrealloc ((void *)0, (ptr), (size));
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#define free(ptr) mfree ((void *)0, (ptr))
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or replace the existing `malloc', `realloc', and `free' calls with the
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above patterns if using `#define' causes problems.
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File: mmalloc.info, Node: Functions, Prev: Compatibility, Up: Implementation
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Function Descriptions
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=====================
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These are the details on the functions that make up the `mmalloc'
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package.
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`void *mmalloc_attach (int FD, void *BASEADDR);'
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Initialize access to a `mmalloc' managed region.
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If FD is a valid file descriptor for an open file, then data for
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the `mmalloc' managed region is mapped to that file. Otherwise
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`/dev/zero' is used and the data will not exist in any filesystem
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object.
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If the open file corresponding to FD is from a previous use of
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`mmalloc' and passes some basic sanity checks to ensure that it is
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compatible with the current `mmalloc' package, then its data is
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mapped in and is immediately accessible at the same addresses in
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the current process as the process that created the file.
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If BASEADDR is not `NULL', the mapping is established starting at
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the specified address in the process address space. If BASEADDR
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is `NULL', the `mmalloc' package chooses a suitable address at
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which to start the mapped region, which will be the value of the
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previous mapping if opening an existing file which was previously
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built by `mmalloc', or for new files will be a value chosen by
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`mmap'.
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Specifying BASEADDR provides more control over where the regions
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start and how big they can be before bumping into existing mapped
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regions or future mapped regions.
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On success, returns a malloc descriptor which is used in subsequent
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calls to other `mmalloc' package functions. It is explicitly
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`void *' (`char *' for systems that don't fully support `void') so
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that users of the package don't have to worry about the actual
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implementation details.
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On failure returns `NULL'.
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`void *mmalloc_detach (void *MD);'
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Terminate access to a `mmalloc' managed region identified by the
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descriptor MD, by closing the base file and unmapping all memory
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pages associated with the region.
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Returns `NULL' on success.
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Returns the malloc descriptor on failure, which can subsequently
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be used for further action (such as obtaining more information
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about the nature of the failure).
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`void *mmalloc (void *MD, size_t SIZE);'
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Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD, allocate additional memory of
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SIZE bytes in the associated mapped region.
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`*mrealloc (void *MD, void *PTR, size_t SIZE);'
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Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD and a pointer to memory
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previously allocated by `mmalloc' in PTR, reallocate the memory to
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be SIZE bytes long, possibly moving the existing contents of
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memory if necessary.
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`void *mvalloc (void *MD, size_t SIZE);'
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Like `mmalloc' but the resulting memory is aligned on a page
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boundary.
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`void mfree (void *MD, void *PTR);'
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Given an `mmalloc' descriptor MD and a pointer to memory previously
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allocated by `mmalloc' in PTR, free the previously allocated
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memory.
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`int mmalloc_errno (void *MD);'
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Given a `mmalloc' descriptor, if the last `mmalloc' operation
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failed for some reason due to a system call failure, then returns
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the associated `errno'. Returns 0 otherwise. (This function is
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not yet implemented).
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Tag Table:
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Node: Top939
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Node: Overview1375
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Node: Implementation2403
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Node: Compatibility3796
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Node: Functions4870
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End Tag Table
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