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Full Discussion: Pointer and address
Top Forums Programming Pointer and address Post 302804519 by alister on Wednesday 8th of May 2013 06:19:15 PM
Old 05-08-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGPickett
Some would argue the heap is only things malloc()'d/new ...
I would consider that to be a weak argument, even though it has historical appeal. Once upon a time, the limits of malloc'd memory coincided with sbrk(0). This is no longer necessarily the case.

Several modern malloc implementations utilize mmap, meaning that the allocated memory is no longer contiguous. It does not make much sense to refer to malloc'd memory as a heap if it is fragmented.

glibc malloc uses sbrk for allocations less than MMAP_THRESHOLD and mmap for allocations greater than or equal to that value (iirc, MMAP_THRESHOLD is usually set at 1 megabyte). FreeBSD and NetBSD mallocs use mmap but can be configured to use sbrk. OpenBSD malloc uses mmap exclusively (in part because memory mismanagement of non-contiguous regions is more likely to trigger a segfault and expose bugs, and has done so in the past).

I have no knowledge of proprietary UNIX mallocs, but I welcome any information on that front.

To me, the heap ends with sbrk(0).

Forgive me if I seem to be quibbling over semantics, because that is not my intention. Nor is it my intention to win an "Internet argument" that is ultimately of little importance. I simply consider this to be an interesting and relevant topic on which many people are misinformed (I am not suggesting that you are one of them).

Regards,
Alister
 

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MALLOC_TRIM(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						    MALLOC_TRIM(3)

NAME
malloc_trim - release free memory from the top of the heap SYNOPSIS
#include <malloc.h> void malloc_trim(size_t pad); DESCRIPTION
The malloc_trim() function attempts to release free memory at the top of the heap (by calling sbrk(2) with a suitable argument). The pad argument specifies the amount of free space to leave untrimmed at the top of the heap. If this argument is 0, only the minimum amount of memory is maintained at the top of the heap (i.e., one page or less). A nonzero argument can be used to maintain some trailing space at the top of the heap in order to allow future allocations to be made without having to extend the heap with sbrk(2). RETURN VALUE
The malloc_trim() function returns 1 if memory was actually released back to the system, or 0 if it was not possible to release any memory. ERRORS
No errors are defined. CONFORMING TO
This function is a GNU extension. NOTES
This function is automatically called by free(3) in certain circumstances; see the discussion of M_TOP_PAD and M_TRIM_THRESHOLD in mal- lopt(3). This function cannot release free memory located at places other than the top of the heap. NOTES
This function only releases memory in the main arena. SEE ALSO
sbrk(2), malloc(3), mallopt(3) COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.44 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/. Linux 2012-03-29 MALLOC_TRIM(3)
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