1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.\"
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.\" Copyright (c) 1996 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
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.\" All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
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.\" by Paul Kranenburg.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
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.\" This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
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.\" Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
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.\" 4. Neither the name of The NetBSD Foundation nor the names of its
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.\" contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
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.\" from this software without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS
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.\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
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.\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
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.\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
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.\" LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
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.\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
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.\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
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.\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
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.\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
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.\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
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.\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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.\" $NetBSD: malloc.9,v 1.3 1996/11/11 00:05:11 lukem Exp $
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1999-08-28 00:22:10 +00:00
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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1999-07-12 21:02:10 +00:00
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.\"
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Dd June 16, 1996
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.Dt MALLOC 9
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2001-07-10 15:31:11 +00:00
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.Os
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm malloc ,
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.Nm MALLOC ,
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.Nm free ,
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.Nm FREE
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.Nd kernel memory management routines
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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2001-10-01 16:09:29 +00:00
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.In sys/types.h
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.In sys/malloc.h
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Ft void *
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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.Fn malloc "unsigned long size" "struct malloc_type *type" "int flags"
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.Fn MALLOC "space" "cast" "unsigned long size" "struct malloc_type *type" "int flags"
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Ft void
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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.Fn free "void *addr" "struct malloc_type *type"
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.Fn FREE "void *addr" "struct malloc_type *type"
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Ft void *
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.Fn realloc "void *addr" "unsigned long size" "struct malloc_type *type" "int flags"
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.Ft void *
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.Fn reallocf "void *addr" "unsigned long size" "struct malloc_type *type" "int flags"
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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The
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.Fn malloc
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function allocates uninitialized memory in kernel address space for an
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object whose size is specified by
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.Fa size .
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Pp
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2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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The
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Fn free
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2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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function releases memory at address
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Fa addr
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that was previously allocated by
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.Fn malloc
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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for re-use.
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The memory is not zeroed.
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If
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.Fa addr
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is
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.Dv NULL ,
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then
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.Fn free
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does nothing.
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.Pp
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The
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.Fn realloc
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function changes the size of the previously allocated memory referenced by
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.Fa addr
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to
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.Fa size
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bytes.
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The contents of the memory are unchanged up to the lesser of the new and
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old sizes.
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Note that the returned value may differ from
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.Fa addr .
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If the requested memory cannot be allocated,
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.Dv NULL
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is returned and the memory referenced by
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.Fa addr
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is valid and unchanged.
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If
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.Fa addr
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is
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.Dv NULL ,
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the
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.Fn realloc
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function behaves identically to
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.Fn malloc
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for the specified size.
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.Pp
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The
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.Fn reallocf
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2002-03-18 10:52:09 +00:00
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function is identical to
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.Fn realloc
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except that it
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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will free the passed pointer when the requested memory cannot be allocated.
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.Pp
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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The
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.Fn MALLOC
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macro variant is functionally equivalent to
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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(space) = (cast)malloc((u_long)(size), type, flags)
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.Ed
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.Pp
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and the
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.Fn FREE
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macro variant is equivalent to
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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free((addr), type)
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.Ed
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.Pp
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Unlike its standard C library counterpart
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.Pq Xr malloc 3 ,
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the kernel version takes two more arguments. The
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.Fa flags
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argument further qualifies
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2001-02-07 10:11:57 +00:00
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.Fn malloc Ns 's
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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operational characteristics as follows:
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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.Bl -tag -width indent
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2000-10-20 17:54:55 +00:00
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.It Dv M_ZERO
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Causes the allocated memory to be set to all zeros.
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.It Dv M_NOWAIT
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Causes
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Fn malloc ,
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.Fn realloc ,
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2002-03-18 10:52:09 +00:00
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and
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Fn reallocf
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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to return
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.Dv NULL
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if the request cannot be immediately fulfilled due to resource shortage.
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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Otherwise, the current process may be put to sleep to wait for
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resources to be released by other processes.
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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If this flag is set,
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Fn malloc
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2001-07-14 19:41:16 +00:00
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will return
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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.Dv NULL
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2002-12-24 16:52:31 +00:00
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rather than block.
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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Note that
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.Dv M_NOWAIT
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2003-02-24 05:53:27 +00:00
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is defined to be 0, meaning that blocking operation is the default.
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Also note that
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.Dv M_NOWAIT
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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is required when running in an interrupt context.
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2003-02-24 05:53:27 +00:00
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.Pp
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Programmers should be careful not to confuse
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.Dv M_NOWAIT ,
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the
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.Fn malloc
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flag, with
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.Dv M_DONTWAIT ,
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an
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.Xr mbuf 9
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allocation flag, which is not a valid argument to
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.Fn malloc .
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.It Dv M_WAITOK
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Indicates that it is Ok to wait for resources. It is unconveniently
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defined as 0 so care should be taken never to compare against this value
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directly or try to AND it as a flag. The default operation is to block
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until the memory allocation succeeds.
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2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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The
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Fn malloc ,
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.Fn realloc ,
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and
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.Fn reallocf
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2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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functions can only return
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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.Dv NULL
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2001-07-14 19:41:16 +00:00
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if
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.Dv M_NOWAIT
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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is specified.
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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.It Dv M_USE_RESERVE
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Indicates that the system can dig into its reserve in order to obtain the
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2001-07-14 19:41:16 +00:00
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requested memory. This option used to be called M_KERNEL but has been
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2001-08-23 23:41:53 +00:00
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renamed to something more obvious. This option has been deprecated and is
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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slowly being removed from the kernel, and so should not be used with any new
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programming.
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.El
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.Pp
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The
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.Fa type
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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argument is used to perform statistics on memory usage, and for
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basic sanity checks.
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The statistics can be examined by
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.Sq vmstat -m .
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Pp
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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A
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Fa type
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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is defined using the
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.Va malloc_type_t
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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typedef via the
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.Fn MALLOC_DECLARE
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and
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.Fn MALLOC_DEFINE
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macros.
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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/* sys/something/foo_extern.h */
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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MALLOC_DECLARE(M_FOOBUF);
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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/* sys/something/foo_main.c */
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1999-09-29 16:49:18 +00:00
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MALLOC_DEFINE(M_FOOBUF, "foobuffers", "Buffers to foo data into the ether");
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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/* sys/something/foo_subr.c */
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2000-12-29 09:18:45 +00:00
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\&...
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1998-07-02 05:37:33 +00:00
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MALLOC(buf, struct foo_buf *, sizeof *buf, M_FOOBUF, M_NOWAIT);
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1997-10-11 08:11:31 +00:00
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1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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.Ed
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1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Sh RETURN VALUES
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2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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The
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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.Fn malloc ,
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.Fn realloc ,
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and
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2002-03-18 10:52:09 +00:00
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.Fn reallocf
|
2003-02-05 14:00:46 +00:00
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functions return a kernel virtual address that is suitably aligned for
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storage of any type of object, or
|
1998-12-23 01:05:06 +00:00
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.Dv NULL
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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if the request could not be satisfied (implying that
|
2001-07-14 19:41:16 +00:00
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.Dv M_NOWAIT
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2002-03-13 01:42:33 +00:00
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was set).
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.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
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The memory allocator allocates memory in chunks that have size a power
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of two for requests up to the size of a page of memory.
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For larger requests, one or more pages is allocated.
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While it should not be relied upon, this information may be useful for
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optimizing the efficiency of memory use.
|
2003-01-18 19:51:52 +00:00
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.Pp
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Malloc flags documented above should
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.Em NOT
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be used with
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.Xr mbuf 9
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routines as it will cause undesired results.
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.Pp
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Any calls to
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.Fn malloc
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or
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.Fn free
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when holding a
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.Xr vnode 9
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interlock, will cause a LOR (Lock Order Reversal) due to the
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interwining of VM Objects and Vnodes.
|
1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Sh SEE ALSO
|
2003-01-19 15:44:32 +00:00
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.Xr vmstat 8 ,
|
2003-01-18 19:51:52 +00:00
|
|
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.Xr vnode 9
|
1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
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A kernel compiled with the
|
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.Dv DIAGNOSTIC
|
1999-02-12 02:12:08 +00:00
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configuration option attempts to detect memory corruption caused by
|
1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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such things as writing outside the allocated area and imbalanced calls to the
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.Fn malloc
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and
|
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.Fn free
|
2000-03-03 14:05:08 +00:00
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functions.
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Failing consistency checks will cause a panic or a system console
|
1997-03-22 23:50:21 +00:00
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message:
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.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact
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.Pp
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.It
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panic:
|
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.Dq malloc: bogus type
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq malloc: allocation too large
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq malloc: wrong bucket
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq malloc: lost data
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq free: address 0x%x out of range
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq free: type %d out of range
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq free: unaligned addr Aq description of object
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq free: item modified
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.It
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panic:
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.Dq free: multiple free[s]
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.It
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.Dq Data modified on freelist: Aq description of object
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.El
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