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1.\"
2.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
3.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4.\"
5.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
6.\" the American National Standards Committee X3, on Information
7.\" Processing Systems.
8.\"
9.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
11.\" are met:
12.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
18.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19.\" without specific prior written permission.
20.\"
21.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
22.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
24.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
25.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
26.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
27.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
28.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
29.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
30.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
31.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
32.\"
33.\" $OpenBSD: malloc.3,v 1.68 2010/05/26 08:22:11 jmc Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd $Mdocdate: May 26 2010 $
36.Dt MALLOC 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm malloc ,
40.Nm calloc ,
41.Nm realloc ,
42.Nm free ,
43.Nm cfree
44.Nd memory allocation and deallocation
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <stdlib.h>
47.Ft void *
48.Fn malloc "size_t size"
49.Ft void *
50.Fn calloc "size_t nmemb" "size_t size"
51.Ft void *
52.Fn realloc "void *ptr" "size_t size"
53.Ft void
54.Fn free "void *ptr"
55.Ft void
56.Fn cfree "void *ptr"
57.Ft char *
58.Va malloc_options ;
59.Sh DESCRIPTION
60The
61.Fn malloc
62function allocates uninitialized space for an object whose
63size is specified by
64.Fa size .
65The
66.Fn malloc
67function maintains multiple lists of free blocks according to size, allocating
68space from the appropriate list.
69.Pp
70The allocated space is
71suitably aligned (after possible pointer
72coercion) for storage of any type of object.
73If the space is of
74.Em pagesize
75or larger, the memory returned will be page-aligned.
76.Pp
77Allocation of a zero size object returns a pointer to a zero size object.
78This zero size object is access protected, so any access to it will
79generate an exception (SIGSEGV).
80Many zero-sized objects can be placed consecutively in shared
81protected pages.
82The minimum size of the protection on each object is suitably aligned and
83sized as previously stated, but the protection may extend further depending
84on where in a protected zone the object lands.
85.Pp
86When using
87.Fn malloc
88be careful to avoid the following idiom:
89.Bd -literal -offset indent
90if ((p = malloc(num * size)) == NULL)
91 err(1, "malloc");
92.Ed
93.Pp
94The multiplication may lead to an integer overflow.
95To avoid this,
96.Fn calloc
97is recommended.
98.Pp
99If
100.Fn malloc
101must be used, be sure to test for overflow:
102.Bd -literal -offset indent
103if (size && num > SIZE_MAX / size) {
104 errno = ENOMEM;
105 err(1, "overflow");
106}
107.Ed
108.Pp
109The
110.Fn calloc
111function allocates space for an array of
112.Fa nmemb
113objects, each of whose size is
114.Fa size .
115The space is initialized to zero.
116The use of
117.Fn calloc
118is strongly encouraged when allocating multiple sized objects
119in order to avoid possible integer overflows.
120.Pp
121The
122.Fn free
123function causes the space pointed to by
124.Fa ptr
125to be either placed on a list of free pages to make it available for future
126allocation or, if required, to be returned to the kernel using
127.Xr munmap 2 .
128If
129.Fa ptr
130is a null pointer, no action occurs.
131.Pp
132A
133.Fn cfree
134function is also provided for compatibility with old systems and other
135.Nm malloc
136libraries; it is simply an alias for
137.Fn free .
138.Pp
139The
140.Fn realloc
141function changes the size of the object pointed to by
142.Fa ptr
143to
144.Fa size
145bytes and returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) object.
146The contents of the object are unchanged up to the lesser
147of the new and old sizes.
148If the new size is larger, the value of the newly allocated portion
149of the object is indeterminate and uninitialized.
150If
151.Fa ptr
152is a null pointer, the
153.Fn realloc
154function behaves like the
155.Fn malloc
156function for the specified size.
157If the space cannot be allocated, the object
158pointed to by
159.Fa ptr
160is unchanged.
161If
162.Fa size
163is zero and
164.Fa ptr
165is not a null pointer, the object it points to is freed and a new zero size
166object is returned.
167.Pp
168When using
169.Fn realloc
170be careful to avoid the following idiom:
171.Bd -literal -offset indent
172size += 50;
173if ((p = realloc(p, size)) == NULL)
174 return (NULL);
175.Ed
176.Pp
177Do not adjust the variable describing how much memory has been allocated
178until the allocation has been successful.
179This can cause aberrant program behavior if the incorrect size value is used.
180In most cases, the above sample will also result in a leak of memory.
181As stated earlier, a return value of
182.Dv NULL
183indicates that the old object still remains allocated.
184Better code looks like this:
185.Bd -literal -offset indent
186newsize = size + 50;
187if ((newp = realloc(p, newsize)) == NULL) {
188 free(p);
189 p = NULL;
190 size = 0;
191 return (NULL);
192}
193p = newp;
194size = newsize;
195.Ed
196.Pp
197As with
198.Fn malloc
199it is important to ensure the new size value will not overflow;
200i.e. avoid allocations like the following:
201.Bd -literal -offset indent
202if ((newp = realloc(p, num * size)) == NULL) {
203 ...
204.Ed
205.Pp
206Malloc will first look for a symbolic link called
207.Pa /etc/malloc.conf
208and next check the environment for a variable called
209.Ev MALLOC_OPTIONS
210and finally for the global variable
211.Va malloc_options
212and scan them for flags in that order.
213Flags are single letters, uppercase means on, lowercase means off.
214.Bl -tag -width indent
215.It Cm A
216.Dq Abort .
217.Fn malloc
218will coredump the process, rather than tolerate internal
219inconsistencies or incorrect usage.
220This is the default and a very handy debugging aid,
221since the core file represents the time of failure,
222rather than when the bogus pointer was used.
223.It Cm D
224.Dq Dump .
225.Fn malloc
226will dump statistics to the file
227.Pa ./malloc.out ,
228if it already exists,
229at exit.
230This option requires the library to have been compiled with -DMALLOC_STATS in
231order to have any effect.
232.It Cm F
233.Dq Freeguard .
234Enable use after free protection.
235Unused pages on the freelist are read and write protected to
236cause a segmentation fault upon access.
237This will also switch off the delayed freeing of chunks,
238reducing random behaviour but detecting double
239.Fn free
240calls as early as possible.
241.It Cm G
242.Dq Guard .
243Enable guard pages.
244Each page size or larger allocation is followed by a guard page that will
245cause a segmentation fault upon any access.
246.It Cm H
247.Dq Hint .
248Pass a hint to the kernel about pages we don't use.
249If the machine is paging a lot this may help a bit.
250.It Cm J
251.Dq Junk .
252Fill some junk into the area allocated.
253Currently junk is bytes of 0xd0 when allocating; this is pronounced
254.Dq Duh .
255\&:-)
256Freed chunks are filled with 0xdf.
257.It Cm P
258.Dq Move allocations within a page.
259Allocations larger than half a page but smaller than a page
260are aligned to the end of a page to catch buffer overruns in more
261cases.
262This is the default.
263.It Cm R
264.Dq realloc .
265Always reallocate when
266.Fn realloc
267is called, even if the initial allocation was big enough.
268This can substantially aid in compacting memory.
269.\".Pp
270.\".It Cm U
271.\".Dq utrace .
272.\"Generate entries for
273.\".Xr ktrace 1
274.\"for all operations.
275.\"Consult the source for this one.
276.It Cm S
277Enable all options suitable for security auditing.
278.It Cm X
279.Dq xmalloc .
280Rather than return failure,
281.Xr abort 3
282the program with a diagnostic message on stderr.
283It is the intention that this option be set at compile time by
284including in the source:
285.Bd -literal -offset indent
286extern char *malloc_options;
287malloc_options = "X";
288.Ed
289.Pp
290Note that this will cause code that is supposed to handle
291out-of-memory conditions gracefully to abort instead.
292.It Cm Z
293.Dq Zero .
294Fill some junk into the area allocated (see
295.Cm J ) ,
296except for the exact length the user asked for, which is zeroed.
297.It Cm <
298.Dq Half the cache size .
299Decrease the size of the free page cache by a factor of two.
300.It Cm >
301.Dq Double the cache size .
302Increase the size of the free page cache by a factor of two.
303.El
304.Pp
305So to set a systemwide reduction of cache size and use guard pages:
306.Dl # ln -s 'G\*(Lt' /etc/malloc.conf
307.Pp
308The flags are mostly for testing and debugging.
309If a program changes behavior if any of these options (except
310.Cm X )
311are used,
312it is buggy.
313.Pp
314The default number of free pages cached is 64.
315.Sh RETURN VALUES
316The
317.Fn malloc
318and
319.Fn calloc
320functions return a pointer to the allocated space if successful; otherwise,
321a null pointer is returned and
322.Va errno
323is set to
324.Er ENOMEM .
325.Pp
326The
327.Fn free
328and
329.Fn cfree
330functions return no value.
331.Pp
332The
333.Fn realloc
334function returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) allocated space
335if successful; otherwise, a null pointer is returned and
336.Va errno
337is set to
338.Er ENOMEM .
339.Sh ENVIRONMENT
340.Bl -tag -width Ev
341.It Ev MALLOC_OPTIONS
342See above.
343.El
344.Sh FILES
345.Bl -tag -width "/etc/malloc.conf"
346.It Pa /etc/malloc.conf
347symbolic link to filename containing option flags
348.El
349.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
350If
351.Fn malloc ,
352.Fn calloc ,
353.Fn realloc ,
354or
355.Fn free
356detect an error condition,
357a message will be printed to file descriptor
3582 (not using stdio).
359Errors will result in the process being aborted,
360unless the
361.Cm a
362option has been specified.
363.Pp
364Here is a brief description of the error messages and what they mean:
365.Bl -tag -width Ds
366.It Dq out of memory
367If the
368.Cm X
369option is specified it is an error for
370.Fn malloc ,
371.Fn calloc ,
372or
373.Fn realloc
374to return
375.Dv NULL .
376.It Dq malloc init mmap failed
377This is a rather weird condition that is most likely to indicate a
378seriously overloaded system or a ulimit restriction.
379.It Dq bogus pointer (double free?)
380An attempt to
381.Fn free
382or
383.Fn realloc
384an unallocated pointer was made.
385.It Dq chunk is already free
386There was an attempt to free a chunk that had already been freed.
387.It Dq modified chunk-pointer
388The pointer passed to
389.Fn free
390or
391.Fn realloc
392has been modified.
393.It Dq recursive call
394An attempt was made to call recursively into these functions, i.e., from a
395signal handler.
396This behavior is not supported.
397In particular, signal handlers should
398.Em not
399use any of the
400.Fn malloc
401functions nor utilize any other functions which may call
402.Fn malloc
403(e.g.,
404.Xr stdio 3
405routines).
406.It Dq unknown char in MALLOC_OPTIONS
407We found something we didn't understand.
408.It Dq malloc cache overflow/underflow
409The internal malloc page cache has been corrupted.
410.It Dq malloc free slot lost
411The internal malloc page cache has been corrupted.
412.It Dq guard size
413An inconsistent guard size was detected.
414.It any other error
415.Fn malloc
416detected an internal error;
417consult sources and/or wizards.
418.El
419.Sh SEE ALSO
420.Xr brk 2 ,
421.Xr mmap 2 ,
422.Xr munmap 2 ,
423.Xr alloca 3 ,
424.Xr getpagesize 3 ,
425.Xr posix_memalign 3
426.Sh STANDARDS
427The
428.Fn malloc
429function conforms to
430.St -ansiC .
431.Sh HISTORY
432The
433.Nm
434family of functions first appeared in
435.At v7 .
436A new implementation by Chris Kingsley was introduced in
437.Bx 4.2 ,
438followed by a complete rewrite by Poul-Henning Kamp which appeared in
439.Fx 2.2
440and was included in
441.Ox 2.0 .
442These implementations were all
443.Xr sbrk 2
444based.
445In
446.Ox 3.8 ,
447Thierry Deval rewrote
448.Nm
449to use the
450.Xr mmap 2
451system call,
452making the page addresses returned by
453.Nm
454random.
455A rewrite by Otto Moerbeek introducing a new central data structure and more
456randomization appeared in
457.Ox 4.4 .