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authorderaadt <>1995-10-18 08:42:23 +0000
committerderaadt <>1995-10-18 08:42:23 +0000
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initial import of NetBSD tree
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1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
5.\" the American National Standards Committee X3, on Information
6.\" Processing Systems.
7.\"
8.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
9.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
10.\" are met:
11.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
13.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
14.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
15.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
16.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
17.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
18.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
19.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
20.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
21.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
22.\" without specific prior written permission.
23.\"
24.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
25.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
26.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
27.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
28.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
29.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
30.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
31.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
32.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
33.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
34.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
35.\"
36.\" from: @(#)malloc.3 6.7 (Berkeley) 6/29/91
37.\" $Id: malloc.3,v 1.1.1.1 1995/10/18 08:42:18 deraadt Exp $
38.\"
39.Dd June 29, 1991
40.Dt MALLOC 3
41.Os BSD 4
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm malloc
44.Nd general memory allocation function
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
47.Ft void *
48.Fn malloc "size_t size"
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Fn malloc
52function allocates uninitialized space for an object whose
53size is specified by
54.Fa size .
55The
56.Fn malloc
57function maintains multiple lists of free blocks according to size, allocating
58space from the appropriate list.
59.Pp
60The allocated space is
61suitably aligned (after possible pointer
62coercion) for storage of any type of object. If the space is of
63.Em pagesize
64or larger, the memory returned will be page-aligned.
65.Sh RETURN VALUES
66The
67.Fn malloc
68function returns
69a pointer to the allocated space if successful; otherwise
70a null pointer is returned.
71.Sh SEE ALSO
72.Xr brk 2 ,
73.Xr getpagesize 2 ,
74.Xr free 3 ,
75.Xr calloc 3 ,
76.Xr alloca 3 ,
77.Xr realloc 3 ,
78.Xr memory 3
79.Sh STANDARDS
80The
81.Fn malloc
82function conforms to
83.St -ansiC .
84.Sh BUGS
85The current implementation of
86.Xr malloc
87does not always fail gracefully when system
88memory limits are approached.
89It may fail to allocate memory when larger free blocks could be broken
90up, or when limits are exceeded because the size is rounded up.
91It is optimized for sizes that are powers of two.