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Manpage of LIBMPATROL
LIBMPATROL
Section: mpatrol library (3)
Updated: 8 January 2002
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NAME
libmpatrol - dynamic memory allocation and tracing library
SYNOPSIS
#include <mpatrol.h>
void *malloc(size_t size);
void *calloc(size_t nelem, size_t size);
void *memalign(size_t align, size_t size);
void *valloc(size_t size);
void *pvalloc(size_t size);
void *alloca(size_t size);
char *strdup(const char *str);
char *strndup(const char *str, size_t size);
char *strsave(const char *str);
char *strnsave(const char *str, size_t size);
char *strdupa(const char *str);
char *strndupa(const char *str, size_t size);
void *realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
void *reallocf(void *ptr, size_t size);
void *recalloc(void *ptr, size_t nelem, size_t size);
void *expand(void *ptr, size_t size);
void free(void *ptr);
void cfree(void *ptr, size_t nelem, size_t size);
void dealloca(void *ptr);
void *xmalloc(size_t size);
void *xcalloc(size_t nelem, size_t size);
char *xstrdup(const char *str);
void *xrealloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
void xfree(void *ptr);
void *operator new(size_t size) throw(std::bad_alloc);
void *operator new(size_t size, const std::nothrow_t&)
throw();
void *operator new[](size_t size) throw(std::bad_alloc);
void *operator new[](size_t size, const std::nothrow_t&)
throw();
void operator delete(void *ptr) throw();
void operator delete(void *ptr, const std::nothrow_t&)
throw();
void operator delete[](void *ptr) throw();
void operator delete[](void *ptr, const std::nothrow_t&)
throw();
std::new_handler std::set_new_handler(std::new_handler func)
throw();
void *memset(void *ptr, int byte, size_t size);
void bzero(void *ptr, size_t size);
void *memccpy(void *dest, const void *src, int byte,
size_t size);
void *memcpy(void *dest, const void *src, size_t size);
void *memmove(void *dest, const void *src, size_t size);
void bcopy(const void *src, void *dest, size_t size);
int memcmp(const void *ptr1, const void *ptr2,
size_t size);
int bcmp(const void *ptr1, const void *ptr2, size_t size);
void *memchr(const void *ptr, int byte, size_t size);
void *memmem(const void *ptr1, size_t size1,
const void *ptr2, size_t size2);
int __mp_atexit(void (*func)(void));
unsigned long __mp_setoption(long opt, unsigned long val);
int __mp_getoption(long opt, unsigned long *val);
unsigned long __mp_libversion(void);
const char *__mp_strerror(__mp_errortype err);
const char *__mp_function(__mp_alloctype func);
int __mp_setuser(const void *ptr, const void *data);
int __mp_setmark(const void *ptr);
int __mp_info(const void *ptr, __mp_allocinfo *info);
int __mp_syminfo(const void *ptr, __mp_symbolinfo *info);
const char *__mp_symbol(const void *ptr);
int __mp_printinfo(const void *ptr);
unsigned long __mp_snapshot(void);
size_t __mp_iterate(int (*func)(const void *, void *),
void *data, unsigned long event);
size_t __mp_iterateall(int (*func)(const void *, void *),
void *data);
int __mp_addallocentry(const char *file, unsigned long line,
size_t size);
int __mp_addfreeentry(const char *file, unsigned long line,
size_t size);
void __mp_clearleaktable(void);
int __mp_startleaktable(void);
int __mp_stopleaktable(void);
void __mp_leaktable(size_t size, int opt,
unsigned char flags);
void __mp_memorymap(int stats);
void __mp_summary(void);
int __mp_stats(__mp_heapinfo *info);
void __mp_check(void);
__mp_prologuehandler __mp_prologue(const
__mp_prologuehandler);
__mp_epiloguehandler __mp_epilogue(const
__mp_epiloguehandler);
__mp_nomemoryhandler __mp_nomemory(const
__mp_nomemoryhandler);
int __mp_printf(const char *fmt, ...);
int __mp_vprintf(const char *fmt, va_list args);
void __mp_locprintf(const char *fmt, ...);
void __mp_vlocprintf(const char *fmt, va_list args);
void __mp_logmemory(const void *ptr, size_t size);
int __mp_logstack(size_t frames);
int __mp_logaddr(const void *ptr);
int __mp_edit(const char *file, unsigned long line);
int __mp_list(const char *file, unsigned long line);
int __mp_view(const char *file, unsigned long line);
int __mp_readcontents(const char *file, void *ptr);
int __mp_writecontents(const char *file, const void *ptr);
long __mp_cmpcontents(const char *file, const void *ptr);
int __mp_remcontents(const char *file, const void *ptr);
__mp_errortype __mp_errno;
DESCRIPTION
The mpatrol library contains implementations of dynamic memory
allocation functions for C and C++ suitable for tracing and debugging, and is
available on UNIX, AmigaOS, Windows and Netware platforms. The library is
intended to be used without requiring any changes to existing user source code
except the inclusion of the mpatrol.h header file, although additional
functions are supplied for extra tracing and control. Note that the current
version of the mpatrol library is contained in the MPATROL_VERSION
preprocessor macro.
All of the function definitions in mpatrol.h can be disabled by defining
the NDEBUG preprocessor macro, which is the same macro used to control
the behaviour of the assert function. If NDEBUG is defined then
no macro redefinition of functions will take place and all special mpatrol
library functions will evaluate to empty statements. The mpalloc.h header
file will also be included in this case. It is intended that the NDEBUG
preprocessor macro be defined in release builds.
The MP_MALLOC family of functions that are defined in mpalloc.h are
also defined in mpatrol.h when NDEBUG is not defined. The mpatrol
versions of these functions contain more debugging information than the mpalloc
versions do, but they do not call the allocation failure handler when no more
memory is available (they cause the OUTMEM error message to be given
instead). See mpalloc(3) for the descriptions of the MP_MALLOC
family of functions.
All diagnostics are sent to the file mpatrol.log in the current directory
by default but this can be changed at run-time. Additional configuration
options can also be changed at run-time by setting and altering the
MPATROL_OPTIONS environment variable. In addition, the LOGFILE,
PROFFILE and TRACEFILE options are affected by the LOGDIR,
PROFDIR and TRACEDIR environment variables respectively. See
ENVIRONMENT below for more details.
Details of memory allocations and free memory are stored internally as a tree
structure for speed and also to allow the best fit allocation algorithm to be
used. This also enables the library to perform intelligent resizing of memory
allocations and can be used to quickly determine if an address has been
allocated on the heap.
On systems that support memory protection, the library attempts to detect any
illegal memory accesses and display as much information as it can obtain about
the address in question and where the illegal memory access occurred.
Stack traceback information for every memory allocation is available on some
supported platforms, which is useful for determining exactly where a memory
allocation was performed or for adding meaning to tracing. Symbol names are
read from the executable file and also possibly from any required shared
libraries, and if the USEDEBUG option is used and is available then the
debugging section in the executable file will be read to determine additional
source-level information.
On systems that support it, global functions (with C linkage) in an executable
file or shared library whose names begin with __mp_init_ will be noted
when the mpatrol library first starts up and is reading the symbols. Such
functions will then be called as soon as the mpatrol library is initialised,
which can be useful if the initialisation occurs before main is called.
These functions must accept no arguments and must return no value. Similar
behaviour exists for global functions whose names begin with __mp_fini_,
except that such functions will be executed when the mpatrol library terminates.
Note that this feature will have no effect if the symbol table is stripped from
the executable file or shared library before the program is run, and the order
in which such functions will be called if there are more than one is
unspecified.
On UNIX platforms, the fork function can cause problems if it is used
to make a copy of the parent process without immediately calling one of the
exec family of functions. This is because the child process inherits
all of the memory allocations of the parent process, but also inherits the log,
profile and trace files as well. If both the parent and child processes make
subsequent memory allocations there will be multiple entries with the same
allocation indices written to the log, profile or trace files. This can be
most confusing when processing these files afterwards! As a workaround, the
mpatrol library will always check the current process identifier every time one
of its functions is called if the CHECKFORK option is used and will open
new log, profile or trace files if it has determined that the process has been
forked. If the CHECKFORK option is not used then a call to
__mp_reinit should be added as the first function call in the child
process in order to duplicate the behaviour of the CHECKFORK option.
Memory allocation profiling is supported, with statistics about every memory
allocation and deallocation that was made during the execution of a program
being written to a file at program termination if the PROF option is
used. The information stored in this file can then be used by the mprof
command to display various tables summarising the memory allocation behaviour
of the program that produced it. Memory allocation tracing is also supported,
where a trace of all memory allocations, reallocations and deallocations can be
written to a tracing output file in a concise encoded format for later
processing by the mptrace command. This is controlled with the
TRACE option.
FUNCTIONS
The following 19 functions are available as replacements for existing C library
functions. To use these you must include mpatrol.h before all other
header files, although on UNIX and Windows platforms (and AmigaOS when using
gcc) they will be used anyway, albeit with slightly less tracing
information. If alloca is being used and alloca.h is included then
mpatrol.h must appear after alloca.h otherwise the debugging version
of alloca will not be used:
- malloc
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then the null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to
ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with free or
reallocated with realloc.
- calloc
-
Allocates nelem elements of size zero-initialised bytes from the
heap and returns a pointer to the first byte of the allocation. The pointer
returned will be suitably aligned for casting to any type and can be used to
store data of up to nelem * size bytes in length. If nelem * size
is 0 then the amount of memory allocated will be implicitly rounded up to
1 byte. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null pointer
will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The allocated
memory must be deallocated with free or reallocated with realloc.
- memalign
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be aligned to
align bytes and can be used to store data of up to size bytes in
length. If align is zero then the default system alignment will be used.
If align is not a power of two then it will be rounded up to the nearest
power of two. If align is greater than the system page size then it will
be truncated to that value. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then the null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to
ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with free or
reallocated with realloc, although the latter will not guarantee the
preservation of alignment.
- valloc
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be aligned to the
system page size and can be used to store data of up to size bytes in
length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated will be implicitly
rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in the heap then the
null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The
allocated memory must be deallocated with free or reallocated with
realloc, although the latter will not guarantee the preservation of
alignment.
- pvalloc
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be aligned to the
system page size and can be used to store data of up to size bytes in
length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated will be implicitly
rounded up to 1 page, otherwise size will be implicitly rounded up
to a multiple of the system page size. If there is not enough space in the heap
then the null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to
ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with free or
reallocated with realloc, although the latter will not guarantee the
preservation of alignment.
- alloca
-
Allocates size temporary uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a
pointer to the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be
suitably aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then the program will be terminated and the OUTMEM error will be
given. The alloca function normally allocates its memory from the stack,
with the result that all such allocations will be freed when the function
returns. This version of alloca allocates its memory from the heap in
order to provide better debugging, but the allocations may not necessarily be
freed immediately when the function returns. The allocated memory can be
deallocated explicitly with dealloca, but may not be reallocated or
deallocated in any other way. This function is available for backwards
compatibility with older C source code and should not be used in new code.
- strdup
-
Allocates exactly enough memory from the heap to duplicate str (including
the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory. The pointer
returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store character
data up to the length of str. If str is NULL then an error
will be given and the null pointer will be returned. If there is not enough
space in the heap then the null pointer will be returned and errno will
be set to ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with
free or reallocated with realloc.
- strndup
-
Allocates exactly enough memory from the heap to duplicate str (including
the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory. The pointer
returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store character
data up to the length of str. If str is NULL and size
is non-zero then an error will be given and the null pointer will be returned.
If the length of str is greater than size then only size
characters will be allocated and copied, with one additional byte for the nul
character. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null pointer will
be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The allocated memory
must be deallocated with free or reallocated with realloc. This
function is available for backwards compatibility with older C libraries and
should not be used in new code.
- strsave
-
Allocates exactly enough memory from the heap to duplicate str (including
the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory. The pointer
returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store character
data up to the length of str. If str is NULL then an error
will be given and the null pointer will be returned. If there is not enough
space in the heap then the null pointer will be returned and errno will
be set to ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with
free or reallocated with realloc. This function is available for
backwards compatibility with older C libraries and should not be used in new
code.
- strnsave
-
Allocates exactly enough memory from the heap to duplicate str (including
the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory. The pointer
returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store character
data up to the length of str. If str is NULL and size
is non-zero then an error will be given and the null pointer will be returned.
If the length of str is greater than size then only size
characters will be allocated and copied, with one additional byte for the nul
character. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null pointer will
be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The allocated memory
must be deallocated with free or reallocated with realloc. This
function is available for backwards compatibility with older C libraries and
should not be used in new code.
- strdupa
-
Allocates exactly enough temporary memory from the heap to duplicate str
(including the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first
byte of the allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory.
The pointer returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store
character data up to the length of str. If str is NULL then
an error will be given and the null pointer will be returned. If there is not
enough space in the heap then the program will be terminated and the
OUTMEM error will be given. The strdupa function normally allocates
its memory from the stack, with the result that all such allocations will be
freed when the function returns. This version of strdupa allocates its
memory from the heap in order to provide better debugging, but the allocations
may not necessarily be freed immediately when the function returns. The
allocated memory can be deallocated explicitly with dealloca, but may not
be reallocated or deallocated in any other way. This function is available for
backwards compatibility with older C source code and should not be used in new
code.
- strndupa
-
Allocates exactly enough temporary memory from the heap to duplicate str
(including the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first
byte of the allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory.
The pointer returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store
character data up to the length of str. If str is NULL and
size is non-zero then an error will be given and the null pointer will be
returned. If the length of str is greater than size then only
size characters will be allocated and copied, with one additional byte for
the nul character. If there is not enough space in the heap then the program
will be terminated and the OUTMEM error will be given. The strndupa
function normally allocates its memory from the stack, with the result that all
such allocations will be freed when the function returns. This version of
strndupa allocates its memory from the heap in order to provide better
debugging, but the allocations may not necessarily be freed immediately when the
function returns. The allocated memory can be deallocated explicitly with
dealloca, but may not be reallocated or deallocated in any other way.
This function is available for backwards compatibility with older C source code
and should not be used in new code.
- realloc
-
Resizes the memory allocation beginning at ptr to size bytes and
returns a pointer to the first byte of the new allocation after copying
ptr to the newly-allocated memory, which will be truncated if size
is smaller than the original allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If ptr is NULL then the call will be
equivalent to malloc. If size is 0 then the existing memory
allocation will be freed and the null pointer will be returned. If size
is greater than the original allocation then the extra space will be filled with
uninitialised bytes. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null
pointer will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The
allocated memory must be deallocated with free and can be reallocated
again with realloc.
- reallocf
-
Resizes the memory allocation beginning at ptr to size bytes and
returns a pointer to the first byte of the new allocation after copying
ptr to the newly-allocated memory, which will be truncated if size
is smaller than the original allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If ptr is NULL then the call will be
equivalent to malloc. If size is 0 then the existing memory
allocation will be freed and the null pointer will be returned. If size
is greater than the original allocation then the extra space will be filled with
uninitialised bytes. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null
pointer will be returned, the original allocation will be freed and errno
will be set to ENOMEM. The allocated memory must be deallocated with
free and can be reallocated again with realloc. This function is
available for backwards compatibility with older C libraries and should not be
used in new code.
- recalloc
-
Resizes the memory allocation beginning at ptr to nelem elements of
size bytes and returns a pointer to the first byte of the new allocation
after copying ptr to the newly-allocated memory, which will be truncated
if nelem * size is smaller than the original allocation. The
pointer returned will be suitably aligned for casting to any type and can be
used to store data of up to nelem * size bytes in length. If
ptr is NULL then the call will be equivalent to calloc. If
nelem * size is 0 then the existing memory allocation will be
freed and the null pointer will be returned. If nelem * size is
greater than the original allocation then the extra space will be filled with
zero-initialised bytes. If there is not enough space in the heap then the null
pointer will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The
allocated memory must be deallocated with free and can be reallocated
again with realloc. This function is available for backwards
compatibility with older C libraries and calloc and should not be used in
new code.
- expand
-
Attempts to resize the memory allocation beginning at ptr to size
bytes and either returns ptr if there was enough space to resize it, or
NULL if the block could not be resized for a particular reason. If
ptr is NULL then the call will be equivalent to malloc. If
size is 0 then the existing memory allocation will be freed and the
NULL pointer will be returned. If size is greater than the original
allocation then the extra space will be filled with uninitialised bytes and if
size is less than the original allocation then the memory block will be
truncated. If there is not enough space in the heap then the NULL pointer
will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM. The allocated
memory must be deallocated with free and can be reallocated again with
realloc. This function is available for backwards compatibility with
older C libraries and should not be used in new code.
- free
-
Frees the memory allocation beginning at ptr so the memory can be reused
by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is NULL then no memory
will be freed. All of the previous contents will be destroyed.
- cfree
-
Frees the memory allocation beginning at ptr so the memory can be reused
by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is NULL then no memory
will be freed. All of the previous contents will be destroyed. The nelem
and size parameters are ignored in this implementation. This function is
available for backwards compatibility with older C libraries and calloc
and should not be used in new code.
- dealloca
-
Explicitly frees the temporary memory allocation beginning at ptr so the
memory can be reused by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is
NULL then no memory will be explicitly freed. All of the previous
contents will be destroyed. This function can only be used to free memory that
was allocated with the alloca, strdupa and strndupa functions,
but is only really required if the mpatrol library does not automatically free
such memory allocations when the allocating function returns. This function is
mpatrol-specific and should not be used in release code.
The following 5 functions are available as replacements for existing C library
extension functions that always abort and never return NULL if there is
insufficient memory to fulfil a request. To use these you must include
mpatrol.h before all other header files, although on UNIX and Windows
platforms (and AmigaOS when using gcc) they will be used anyway, albeit
with slightly less tracing information:
- xmalloc
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then the program will be terminated and the OUTMEM error will be
given. The allocated memory must be deallocated with xfree or reallocated
with xrealloc.
- xcalloc
-
Allocates nelem elements of size zero-initialised bytes from the
heap and returns a pointer to the first byte of the allocation. The pointer
returned will be suitably aligned for casting to any type and can be used to
store data of up to nelem * size bytes in length. If nelem * size
is 0 then the amount of memory allocated will be implicitly rounded up to
1 byte. If there is not enough space in the heap then the program will be
terminated and the OUTMEM error will be given. The allocated memory must
be deallocated with xfree or reallocated with xrealloc.
- xstrdup
-
Allocates exactly enough memory from the heap to duplicate str (including
the terminating nul character) and returns a pointer to the first byte of the
allocation after copying str to the newly-allocated memory. The pointer
returned will have no alignment constraints and can be used to store character
data up to the length of str. If str is NULL then an error
will be given and the null pointer will be returned. If there is not enough
space in the heap then the program will be terminated and the OUTMEM error
will be given. The allocated memory must be deallocated with xfree or
reallocated with xrealloc.
- xrealloc
-
Resizes the memory allocation beginning at ptr to size bytes and
returns a pointer to the first byte of the new allocation after copying
ptr to the newly-allocated memory, which will be truncated if size
is smaller than the original allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If ptr is NULL then the call will be
equivalent to xmalloc. If size is 0 then it will be implictly
rounded up to 1. If size is greater than the original allocation
then the extra space will be filled with uninitialised bytes. If there is not
enough space in the heap then the program will be terminated and the
OUTMEM error will be given. The allocated memory must be deallocated with
xfree and can be reallocated again with xrealloc.
- xfree
-
Frees the memory allocation beginning at ptr so the memory can be reused
by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is NULL then no memory
will be freed. All of the previous contents will be destroyed.
The following 5 functions are available as replacements for existing C++ library
functions, but the replacements in mpatrol.h will only be used if the
MP_NOCPLUSPLUS preprocessor macro is not defined. The replacement
operators make use of the preprocessor in order to obtain source-level
information. If this causes problems then you should define the
MP_NONEWDELETE preprocessor macro and use the MP_NEW,
MP_NEW_NOTHROW and MP_DELETE macros instead of new and
delete directly. To use these C++ features you must include
mpatrol.h before all other header files, although on UNIX and Windows
platforms (and AmigaOS when using gcc) they will be used anyway, albeit
with slightly less tracing information:
- operator new
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then either the std::bad_alloc exception will be thrown or the
null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM - the
behaviour depends on whether the nothrow version of the operator is used. The
allocated memory must be deallocated with operator delete.
- operator new[]
-
Allocates size uninitialised bytes from the heap and returns a pointer to
the first byte of the allocation. The pointer returned will be suitably
aligned for casting to any type and can be used to store data of up to
size bytes in length. If size is 0 then the memory allocated
will be implicitly rounded up to 1 byte. If there is not enough space in
the heap then either the std::bad_alloc exception will be thrown or the
null pointer will be returned and errno will be set to ENOMEM - the
behaviour depends on whether the nothrow version of the operator is used. The
allocated memory must be deallocated with operator delete[].
- operator delete
-
Frees the memory allocation beginning at ptr so the memory can be reused
by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is NULL then no memory
will be freed. All of the previous contents will be destroyed. This function
must only be used with memory allocated by operator new.
- operator delete[]
-
Frees the memory allocation beginning at ptr so the memory can be reused
by another call to allocate memory. If ptr is NULL then no memory
will be freed. All of the previous contents will be destroyed. This function
must only be used with memory allocated by operator new[].
- set_new_handler
-
Installs a low-memory handler specifically for use with operator new and
operator new[] and returns a pointer to the previously installed handler,
or the null pointer if no handler had been previously installed. This will be
called repeatedly by both functions when they would normally return NULL,
and this loop will continue until they manage to allocate the requested space.
Note that this function is equivalent to __mp_nomemory and will replace
the handler installed by that function.
The following 10 functions are available as replacements for existing C library
memory operation functions. To use these you must include mpatrol.h
before all other header files, although on UNIX and Windows platforms (and
AmigaOS when using gcc) they will be used anyway, albeit with slightly
less tracing information:
- memset
-
Writes size bytes of value byte to the memory location beginning at
ptr and returns ptr. If size is 0 then no bytes will
be written. If the operation would affect an existing memory allocation in the
heap but would straddle that allocation's boundaries then an error message will
be generated in the log file and no bytes will be written.
- bzero
-
Writes size zero bytes to the memory location beginning at ptr. If
size is 0 then no bytes will be written. If the operation would
affect an existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that
allocation's boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file
and no bytes will be written. This function is available for backwards
compatibility with older C libraries and should not be used in new code.
- memccpy
-
Copies size bytes from src to dest and returns NULL, or
copies the number of bytes up to and including the first occurrence of
byte if byte exists within the specified range and returns a pointer
to the first byte after byte. If size is 0 or src is
the same as dest then no bytes will be copied. The source and destination
ranges should not overlap, otherwise a warning will be written to the log file.
If the operation would affect an existing memory allocation in the heap but
would straddle that allocation's boundaries then an error message will be
generated in the log file and no bytes will be copied.
- memcpy
-
Copies size bytes from src to dest and returns dest. If
size is 0 or src is the same as dest then no bytes will
be copied. The source and destination ranges should not overlap, otherwise a
warning will be written to the log file. If the operation would affect an
existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that allocation's
boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file and no bytes
will be copied.
- memmove
-
Copies size bytes from src to dest and returns dest. If
size is 0 or src is the same as dest then no bytes will
be copied. If the operation would affect an existing memory allocation in the
heap but would straddle that allocation's boundaries then an error message will
be generated in the log file and no bytes will be copied.
- bcopy
-
Copies size bytes from src to dest. If size is 0
or src is the same as dest then no bytes will be copied. If the
operation would affect an existing memory allocation in the heap but would
straddle that allocation's boundaries then an error message will be generated in
the log file and no bytes will be copied. This function is available for
backwards compatibility with older C libraries and should not be used in new
code.
- memcmp
-
Compares size bytes from ptr1 and ptr2 and returns 0 if
all of the bytes are identical, or returns the byte difference of the first
differing bytes. If size is 0 or ptr1 is the same as
ptr2 then no bytes will be compared. If the operation would read from an
existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that allocation's
boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file and no bytes
will be compared.
- bcmp
-
Compares size bytes from ptr1 and ptr2 and returns 0 if
all of the bytes are identical, or returns the byte difference of the first
differing bytes. If size is 0 or ptr1 is the same as
ptr2 then no bytes will be compared. If the operation would read from an
existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that allocation's
boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file and no bytes
will be compared. This function is available for backwards compatibility with
older C libraries and should not be used in new code.
- memchr
-
Searches up to size bytes in ptr for the first occurrence of
byte and returns a pointer to it or NULL if no such byte occurs. If
size is 0 then no bytes will be searched. If the operation would
affect an existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that
allocation's boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file
and no bytes will be searched.
- memmem
-
Searches up to size1 bytes in ptr1 for the first occurrence of
ptr2 (which is exactly size2 bytes in length) and returns a pointer
to it or NULL if no such sequence of bytes occur. If size1 or
size2 is 0 then no bytes will be searched. If the operation would
affect an existing memory allocation in the heap but would straddle that
allocation's boundaries then an error message will be generated in the log file
and no bytes will be searched.
The following 42 functions are available as support routines for additional
control and tracing in the mpatrol library. Although they are documented here
as being prefixed by __mp_, their equivalent functions that are prefixed
by mpatrol_ are also defined as aliases in the mpatrol.h header
file. To use these you should include the mpatrol.h header file:
- __mp_atexit
-
Installs a function to be called when the mpatrol library terminates. Up to 32
such functions can be registered and will be called in reverse order of
registration. Returns 1 on success or 0 if func could not be
registered.
- __mp_setoption
-
Sets the value of an mpatrol option after the library has been initialised.
Options that require values are listed in mpatrol.h prefixed with
MP_OPT_*. The opt argument should be set to one of these macros,
and the val argument should be set to the option value, cast to an
unsigned integer. The return value will be 0 on success and 1 on
failure. Options that are flags are listed in mpatrol.h prefixed with
MP_FLG_*. Multiple flags can be set or unset at once using the
MP_OPT_SETFLAGS and MP_OPT_UNSETFLAGS options respectively, with the
necessary flags specified in val. The return value will be 0 on
success and a combination of all of the flags that could not be set or unset on
failure.
- __mp_getoption
-
Gets the value of an mpatrol option after the library has been initialised.
If opt is a valid option listed in mpatrol.h then 1 will be
returned and the associated value will be returned in val and cast to an
unsigned integer, otherwise 0 will be returned. If opt is
MP_OPT_SETFLAGS then all of the mpatrol library flags that are set will be
returned in val. If opt is MP_OPT_UNSETFLAGS then all of the
mpatrol library flags that are not set will be returned in val.
- __mp_libversion
-
Returns the version number of the mpatrol library. This can be useful for
verifying that the version of the mpatrol library that a program is linked with
is the one expected at compile-time.
- __mp_strerror
-
Returns the error message corresponding to the error code err or
NULL if no such error code exists. The most recent error code recorded by
the mpatrol library can be obtained by examining __mp_errno.
- __mp_function
-
Returns the name of the function corresponding to the allocation type func
or NULL if no such allocation type exists.
- __mp_setuser
-
Sets the user data for the memory allocation containing ptr. The contents
of data are entirely application-specific as user data will never be
examined by the mpatrol library. Such data is associated with a memory
allocation for its entire lifetime unless overridden by a subsequent call to
__mp_setuser. As such, the user data must be valid for the entire
lifetime of the memory allocation, perhaps even after the allocation has been
freed if the NOFREE option is being used. This function returns 1
if there is an allocated memory block containing ptr, and 0
otherwise.
- __mp_setmark
-
Sets the marked flag for the memory allocation containing ptr, indicating
that the memory allocation cannot be freed (but can be reallocated) and thus
will not be listed as a memory leak. This function returns 1 if there is
an allocated memory block containing ptr, and 0 otherwise. Note
that a memory allocation made by alloca, strdupa or strndupa
may not be marked.
- __mp_info
-
Obtains information about a specific memory allocation by placing statistics
about ptr in info. If ptr does not belong to a previously
allocated memory allocation or free memory block then 0 will be returned,
otherwise 1 will be returned and info will contain the following
information (note that a free memory block will only contain the block and
size fields and can be identified by not having the allocated flag
set):
Field | Description
|
|
|
block | Pointer to first byte of alloc.
|
size | Size of alloc in bytes.
|
type | Type of function which allocated memory.
|
alloc | Allocation index.
|
realloc | Number of times reallocated.
|
thread | Thread identifier.
|
event | Event of last modification.
|
func | Function in which alloc took place.
|
file | File in which alloc took place.
|
line | Line number at which alloc took place.
|
stack | Pointer to function call stack.
|
typestr | Type stored in allocation.
|
typesize | Size of type stored in allocation.
|
userdata | User data associated with allocation.
|
allocated | Indicates if alloc was allocated.
|
freed | Indicates if alloc has been freed.
|
marked | Indicates if alloc has been marked.
|
profiled | Indicates if alloc has been profiled.
|
traced | Indicates if alloc has been traced.
|
internal | Indicates if alloc is internal.
|
- __mp_syminfo
-
Obtains symbolic information about a specific code address by placing statistics
about ptr in info. If ptr does not belong to a function
symbol then 0 will be returned, otherwise 1 will be returned and
info will contain the following information:
Field | Description
|
|
|
name | Name of symbol.
|
object | File containing symbol.
|
addr | Start address of symbol.
|
size | Size of symbol.
|
file | Filename corresponding to address.
|
line | Line number corresponding to address.
|
- __mp_symbol
-
Obtains the name of a function symbol containing the code address specified in
ptr. If ptr does not belong to a function symbol then NULL
will be returned.
- __mp_printinfo
-
Displays information about a specific memory allocation containing ptr to
the standard error file stream. If ptr does not belong to a previously
allocated memory allocation or free memory block then 0 will be returned,
otherwise 1 will be returned. This function is intended to be called from
within a debugger.
- __mp_snapshot
-
Returns the current event number, effectively taking a snapshot of the heap.
This number can then be used in later calls to __mp_iterate.
- __mp_iterate
-
Iterates over all of the current allocated and freed memory allocations,
calling func with the start address of every memory allocation that has
been modified since event number event. If func is NULL then
__mp_printinfo will be used as the callback function. If event is
0 then func will be called with the start address of every memory
allocation. If func returns a negative number then the iteration process
will be stopped immediately. If func returns a positive number above zero
then __mp_iterate will return the number of times func returned a
non-zero number after the iteration process has stopped. The data
argument is passed directly to func as its second argument and is not
read by the mpatrol library.
- __mp_iterateall
-
Iterates over all of the current allocated and freed memory allocations and any
free memory blocks, calling func with the start address of every memory
allocation or free block. If func is NULL then __mp_printinfo
will be used as the callback function. If func returns a negative number
then the iteration process will be stopped immediately. If func returns a
positive number above zero then __mp_iterate will return the number of
times func returned a non-zero number after the iteration process has
stopped. The data argument is passed directly to func as its second
argument and is not read by the mpatrol library. Note that unlike
__mp_iterate, this function will also include internal memory allocations
made by the mpatrol library and is intended for walking the entire heap.
- __mp_addallocentry
-
Adds an entry representing an allocation of size size to the leak table.
The allocation will be associated with a source filename of file and a
line number of line if the former is non-NULL and the latter is
non-zero. If file is non-NULL and line is 0 then
file represents the name of the function that made the allocation. If
file is NULL and line is non-zero then line represents
the code address at which the allocation was made. If file is NULL
and line is 0 then the location of the allocation is unknown.
Returns 1 on success and 0 if there was no more memory available to
add another entry to the leak table.
- __mp_addfreeentry
-
Adds an entry representing a deallocation of size size to the leak table.
The deallocation will be associated with a source filename of file and a
line number of line if the former is non-NULL and the latter is
non-zero. If file is non-NULL and line is 0 then
file represents the name of the function that made the deallocation. If
file is NULL and line is non-zero then line represents
the code address at which the deallocation was made. If file is
NULL and line is 0 then the location of the deallocation is
unknown. Returns 1 on success and 0 if there was no existing
allocation from the same location in the leak table.
- __mp_clearleaktable
-
Deletes all of the existing entries in the leak table, making it empty. This
will also affect the behaviour of the LEAKTABLE option since that option
will then only be able to show a summary of the entries in the leak table that
were collected after the last call to this function rather than from the start
of program execution.
- __mp_startleaktable
-
Starts the automatic logging of all memory allocations, reallocations and
deallocations to the leak table. Returns 1 if such logging was already
being performed and 0 otherwise.
- __mp_stopleaktable
-
Stops the automatic logging of all memory allocations, reallocations and
deallocations to the leak table. Returns 1 if such logging was already
being performed and 0 otherwise.
- __mp_leaktable
-
Displays a summary of up to size entries from the leak table, or all
entries if size is 0. If opt is MP_LT_ALLOCATED then
all allocated entries will be displayed, if opt is MP_LT_FREED then
all freed entries will be displayed and if opt is MP_LT_UNFREED then
all unfreed entries will be displayed. The summary is normally sorted in
descending order of total bytes from each entry, but this can be changed by
setting flags to any combination of MP_LT_COUNTS (to sort by the
number of occurrences in each entry) and MP_LT_BOTTOM (to sort in
ascending order).
- __mp_memorymap
-
If stats is non-zero then the current statistics of the mpatrol library
will be displayed. If the heap contains at least one allocated, freed or free
block then a map of the current heap will also be displayed.
- __mp_summary
-
Displays information about the current state of the mpatrol library, including
its settings and any relevant statistics.
- __mp_stats
-
Obtains statistics about the current state of the heap and places them in
info. If this information could not be determined then 0 will be
returned, otherwise 1 will be returned and info will contain the
following information:
Field | Description
|
|
|
acount | Total number of allocated blocks.
|
atotal | Total size of allocated blocks.
|
fcount | Total number of free blocks.
|
ftotal | Total size of free blocks.
|
gcount | Total number of freed blocks.
|
gtotal | Total size of freed blocks.
|
icount | Total number of internal blocks.
|
itotal | Total size of internal blocks.
|
mcount | Total number of marked blocks.
|
mtotal | Total size of marked blocks.
|
- __mp_check
-
Forces the library to perform an immediate check of the overflow buffers of
every memory allocation and to ensure that nothing has overwritten any free
blocks. If any memory allocations made by the alloca family of functions
are out of scope then this function will also cause them to be freed.
- __mp_prologue
-
Installs a prologue function to be called before any memory allocation,
reallocation or deallocation function. This function will return a pointer to
the previously installed prologue function, or the null pointer if no prologue
function had been previously installed. The following arguments will be used
to call the prologue function (the last four arguments contain the function
name, file name, line number and the return address of the calling function, or
null pointers and zero if they cannot be determined):
Argument 1 | Argument 2 | Argument 3 | Called by
|
| | |
|
-1 | size | align | malloc, etc.
|
ptr | size | align | realloc, etc.
|
ptr | -1 | 0 | free, etc.
|
ptr | -2 | 1 | strdup, etc.
|
- __mp_epilogue
-
Installs an epilogue function to be called after any memory allocation,
reallocation or deallocation function. This function will return a pointer to
the previously installed epilogue function, or the null pointer if no epilogue
function had been previously installed. The following arguments will be used
to call the epilogue function (the last four arguments contain the function
name, file name, line number and the return address of the calling function, or
null pointers and zero if they cannot be determined):
Argument | Called by
|
|
|
ptr | malloc, realloc, strdup, etc.
|
-1 | free, etc.
|
- __mp_nomemory
-
Installs a low-memory handler and returns a pointer to the previously installed
handler, or the null pointer if no handler had been previously installed. This
will be called once by C memory allocation functions, and repeatedly by C++
memory allocation functions, when they would normally return NULL. The
four arguments contain the function name, file name, line number and the return
address of the calling function, or null pointers and zero if they cannot be
determined. Note that this function is equivalent to set_new_handler and
will replace the handler installed by that function.
- __mp_printf
-
Writes format string fmt with variable arguments to the log file, with
each line prefixed by >. The final length of the string that is written
to the log file must not exceed 1024 characters. Returns the number of
characters written, or a negative number upon error.
- __mp_vprintf
-
Writes format string fmt with variable argument list args to the log
file, with each line prefixed by >. The final length of the string that
is written to the log file must not exceed 1024 characters. Returns the number
of characters written, or a negative number upon error.
- __mp_locprintf
-
Writes format string fmt with variable arguments to the log file, with
each line prefixed by >. The final length of the string that is written
to the log file must not exceed 1024 characters. It also writes information to
the log file about where the call to this function was made, which includes the
source file location and the call stack if they are available.
- __mp_vlocprintf
-
Writes format string fmt with variable argument list args to the log
file, with each line prefixed by >. The final length of the string that
is written to the log file must not exceed 1024 characters. It also writes
information to the log file about where the call to this function was made,
which includes the source file location and the call stack if they are
available.
- __mp_logmemory
-
Displays the contents of a block of memory beginning at ptr, dumping
size consecutive bytes to the log file in hexadecimal format.
- __mp_logstack
-
Displays the current call stack, skipping frames stack frames from the
current stack frame before writing the symbolic stack trace to the log file.
Returns 1 if successful, or 0 if the call stack could not be
determined or if frames was too large for the current call stack.
- __mp_logaddr
-
Displays information about a specific memory allocation containing ptr to
the log file. If ptr does not belong to a previously allocated memory
allocation then 0 will be returned, otherwise 1 will be returned.
- __mp_edit
-
Invokes a text editor to edit file at line number line via the
mpedit command. Returns 1 if the text editor was successfully
invoked, -1 if there was an error, or 0 if there is no support for
this feature. This function will only work on a system where the EDIT
option works.
- __mp_list
-
Displays a context listing of file at line number line via the
mpedit command. Returns 1 if the listing was successfully
performed, -1 if there was an error, or 0 if there is no support for
this feature. This function will only work on a system where the LIST
option works.
- __mp_view
-
Either invokes a text editor to edit file at line number line or
displays a context listing of file at line number line depending
on the setting of the EDIT and LIST options. This is done via the
mpedit command and will have no effect if the EDIT and LIST
options are not set or if these options are not supported on the system.
Returns 1 if the edit or listing was successfully performed, -1 if
there was an error, or 0 if neither of the options were set or if there is
no support for this feature.
- __mp_readcontents
-
Reads the contents of a memory allocation contents file into the memory
allocation containing ptr. The name of the file is composed of the
file string followed by the allocation index of the memory allocation
separated by a dot. If file is NULL then it is assumed to be
.mpatrol. Returns 1 if the contents were read successfully and
0 otherwise.
- __mp_writecontents
-
Writes the contents of the memory allocation containing ptr to an
allocation contents file. The name of the file is composed of the file
string followed by the allocation index of the memory allocation separated by
a dot. If file is NULL then it is assumed to be .mpatrol.
Returns 1 if the contents were written successfully and 0 otherwise.
- __mp_cmpcontents
-
Compares the contents of the memory allocation containing ptr with the
contents of a previously written allocation contents file. The name of the file
is composed of the file string followed by the allocation index of the
memory allocation separated by a dot. If file is NULL then it is
assumed to be .mpatrol. Any differences are written to the mpatrol log
file. Returns the number of differences found, or -1 if there was an
error.
- __mp_remcontents
-
Removes the memory allocation contents file that corresponds to the memory
allocation containing ptr. The name of the file is composed of the
file string followed by the allocation index of the memory allocation
separated by a dot. If file is NULL then it is assumed to be
.mpatrol. Returns 1 if the file was removed successfully and
0 otherwise.
The following global variable is available for additional control in the mpatrol
library. To use it you should include the mpatrol.h header file:
- __mp_errno
-
Contains the most recent error code encountered by the mpatrol library. Its
value can be reset to MP_ET_NONE before calling an mpatrol library
function, and then examined afterwards, either by comparison with the known
error codes in the __mp_errortype enumeration, or with
__mp_strerror.
LINKING
In order to use the mpatrol library on UNIX platforms, the following libraries
must be linked in before any other library that defines dynamic memory
allocation functions with the same names:
Library | Reason
|
|
|
-lmpatrol | To use this library.
|
-lmpatrolmt | To use the thread-safe mpatrol library.
|
-lmpalloc | To use the release library.
|
-lmptools | To use the mpatrol tools library.
|
-lld | If built with COFF or XCOFF support.
|
-lelf | If built with ELF support.
|
-lbfd & -liberty | If built with BFD support.
|
-lcl | If built on HP/UX.
|
-lexc | If built on IRIX or Tru64.
|
-limagehlp | If built on Windows.
|
-lpthreads | If built on AIX with threads support.
|
-lthread | If built on DG/UX with threads support.
|
-lpthread | If built on UNIX with threads support.
|
On UNIX platforms, if there were no calls to memory allocation functions before
-lmpatrol or -lmpatrolmt appears on the link line then the mpatrol
library will not be linked in if it is an archive library. However, this can be
overridden by placing -umalloc just before that point.
You may also wish to set your core file size limit to be zero before running
any programs linked with the mpatrol library as the extra memory that the
library uses can make such files much larger than normal, and if you are
planning on using a symbolic debugger then you won't need the core files anyway.
ENVIRONMENT
The library can read certain options at run-time from an environment variable
called MPATROL_OPTIONS. This variable must contain one or more valid
option keywords from the list below and must be no longer than 1024 characters
in length. If MPATROL_OPTIONS is unset or empty then the default settings
will be used.
The syntax for options specified within the MPATROL_OPTIONS environment
variable is OPTION or OPTION=VALUE, where OPTION is a
keyword from the list below and VALUE is the setting for that option. If
VALUE is numeric then it may be specified using binary, octal, decimal or
hexadecimal notation, with binary notation beginning with either 0b or
0B. If VALUE is a character string containing spaces then it may be
quoted using double quotes. No whitespace may appear between the = sign,
but whitespace must appear between different options. Note that option keywords
can be given in lowercase as well as uppercase, or a mixture of both.
- ALLOCBYTE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies an 8-bit byte pattern with which to prefill newly-allocated memory.
This can be used to detect the use of memory which has not been initialised
after allocation. Note that this setting will not affect memory allocated with
calloc or recalloc as these functions always prefill allocated
memory with an 8-bit byte pattern of zero. Default value:
ALLOCBYTE=0xFF.
- ALLOCSTOP=unsigned integer
-
Specifies an allocation index at which to stop the program when it is being
allocated. When the number of memory allocations reaches this number the
program will be halted, and its state may be examined at that point by using
a suitable debugger. Note that this setting will be ignored if its value is
zero. Default value: ALLOCSTOP=0.
- ALLOWOFLOW
-
Specifies that a warning rather than an error should be produced if any memory
operation function overflows the boundaries of a memory allocation, and that
the operation should still be performed. This option is provided for
circumstances where it is desirable for the memory operation to be performed,
regardless of whether it is erroneous or not.
- AUTOSAVE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the frequency at which to periodically write the profiling data to
the profiling output file. When the total number of profiled memory allocations
and deallocations is a multiple of this number then the current profiling
information will be written to the profiling output file. This option can be
used to instruct the mpatrol library to dump out any profiling information just
before a fatal error occurs in a program, for example. Note that this setting
will be ignored if its value is zero. Default value: AUTOSAVE=0.
- CHECK=unsigned range
-
Specifies a range of allocation indices at which to check the integrity of free
memory and overflow buffers. The range must be specified as no more than two
unsigned integers separated by a dash, followed by an optional forward slash and
an unsigned integer specifying an event checking frequency. If numbers on
either the left side or the right side of the dash are omitted then they will be
assumed to be 0 and infinity respectively. If the event checking
frequency is omitted then it is assumed to be 1. A value of 0 on
its own indicates that no such checking will ever be performed. This option can
be used to speed up the execution speed of the library at the expense of
checking. Default value: CHECK=0.
- CHECKALL
-
Equivalent to the CHECKALLOCS, CHECKREALLOCS, CHECKFREES and
CHECKMEMORY options specified together.
- CHECKALLOCS
-
Checks that no attempt is made to allocate a block of memory of size zero. A
warning will be issued for every such case.
- CHECKFORK
-
Checks at every call to see if the process has been forked in case new log,
profiling and tracing output files need to be started. This option only has an
effect on UNIX platforms, but should not be used in multithreaded programs if
each thread has a different process identifier.
- CHECKFREES
-
Checks that no attempt is made to deallocate a NULL pointer. A warning
will be issued for every such case.
- CHECKMEMORY
-
Checks that no attempt is made to perform a zero-length memory operation on a
NULL pointer.
- CHECKREALLOCS
-
Checks that no attempt is made to reallocate a NULL pointer or resize an
existing block of memory to size zero. Warnings will be issued for every such
case.
- DEFALIGN=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the default alignment for general-purpose memory allocations, which
must be a power of two (and will be rounded up to the nearest power of two if it
is not). The default alignment for a particular system is calculated at
run-time.
- EDIT
-
Specifies that a text editor should be invoked to edit any relevant source files
that are associated with any warnings or errors when they occur. Only
diagnostics which occur at source lines in the program will be affected and only
then if they contain source-level information. This option is currently only
available on UNIX platforms as it makes use of the mpedit command. It
also overrides the behaviour of the LIST option and affects the behaviour
of the __mp_view function.
- FAILFREQ=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the frequency at which all memory allocations will randomly fail. For
example, a value of 10 will mean that roughly 1 in 10 memory allocations
will fail, but a value of 0 will disable all random failures. This option
can be useful for stress-testing an application. Default value:
FAILFREQ=0.
- FAILSEED=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the random number seed which will be used when determining which
memory allocations will randomly fail. A value of 0 will instruct the
library to pick a random seed every time it is run. Any other value will mean
that the random failures will be the same every time the program is run, but
only as long as the seed stays the same. Default value: FAILSEED=0.
- FREEBYTE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies an 8-bit byte pattern with which to prefill newly-freed memory. This
can be used to detect the use of memory which has just been freed. It is also
used internally to ensure that freed memory has not been overwritten. Note that
the freed memory may be reused the next time a block of memory is allocated and
so once memory has been freed its contents are not guaranteed to remain the same
as the specified byte pattern. Default value: FREEBYTE=0x55.
- FREESTOP=unsigned integer
-
Specifies an allocation index at which to stop the program when it is being
freed. When the memory allocation with the specified allocation index is to be
freed the program will be halted, and its state may be examined at that point
using a suitable debugger. Note that this setting will be ignored if its value
is zero. Default value: FREESTOP=0.
- HELP
-
Displays a quick-reference option summary to the stderr file stream.
- LARGEBOUND=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the limit in bytes up to which memory allocations should be classified
as large allocations for profiling purposes. This limit must be greater than
the small and medium bounds. Default value: LARGEBOUND=2048.
- LEAKTABLE
-
Specifies that the leak table should be automatically used and a leak table
summary should be displayed at the end of program execution. The summary shows
a flat profile of all unfreed memory allocations since the start of the program,
or since the last call to __mp_clearleaktable if that function was called.
- LIMIT=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the limit in bytes at which all memory allocations should fail if the
total allocated memory should increase beyond this. This can be used to
stress-test software to see how it behaves in low memory conditions. The
internal memory used by the library itself will not be counted as part of the
total heap size, but on some systems there may be a small amount of memory
required to initialise the library itself. Note that this setting will be
ignored if its value is zero. Default value: LIMIT=0.
- LIST
-
Specifies that a context listing should be shown for any relevant source files
that are associated with any warnings or errors when they occur. Only
diagnostics which occur at source lines in the program will be affected and only
then if they contain source-level information. This option is currently only
available on UNIX platforms as it makes use of the mpedit command. It
also overrides the behaviour of the EDIT option and affects the behaviour
of the __mp_view function.
- LOGALL
-
Equivalent to the LOGALLOCS, LOGREALLOCS, LOGFREES and
LOGMEMORY options specified together.
- LOGALLOCS
-
Specifies that all memory allocations are to be logged and sent to the log file.
Note that any memory allocations made internally by the library will not be
logged.
- LOGFILE=string
-
Specifies an alternative file in which to place all diagnostics from the mpatrol
library. If the LOGDIR environment variable is set and the specified file
does not contain a path component in its filename then the log file will be
located in the directory specified in LOGDIR. A filename of stderr
will send all diagnostics to the stderr file stream and a filename of
stdout will do the equivalent with the stdout file stream. Note
that if a problem occurs while opening the log file or if any diagnostics
require to be displayed before the log file has had a chance to be opened then
they will be sent to the stderr file stream. Default value:
LOGFILE=mpatrol.log or LOGFILE=%n.%p.log if the
LOGDIR environment variable is set.
- LOGFREES
-
Specifies that all memory deallocations are to be logged and sent to the log
file. Note that any memory deallocations made internally by the library will
not be logged.
- LOGMEMORY
-
Specifies that all memory operations are to be logged and sent to the log file.
These operations will be made by calls to functions such as memset and
memcpy. Note that any memory operations made internally by the library
will not be logged.
- LOGREALLOCS
-
Specifies that all memory reallocations are to be logged and sent to the log
file. Note that any memory reallocations made internally by the library will
not be logged.
- MEDIUMBOUND=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the limit in bytes up to which memory allocations should be classified
as medium allocations for profiling purposes. This limit must be greater than
the small bound but less than the large bound. Default value:
MEDIUMBOUND=256.
- NOFREE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies that a number of recently-freed memory allocations should be prevented
from being returned to the free memory pool. Such freed memory allocations will
then be flagged as freed and can be used by the library to provide better
diagnostics. If the size of the freed queue is specified as zero then all
freed memory will be immediately reused by the mpatrol library. Note that if
this option is given a non-zero value then the mpatrol library will always force
a memory reallocation to return a pointer to newly-allocated memory, but the
expand function will never be affected by this option. Default value:
NOFREE=0.
- NOPROTECT
-
Specifies that the mpatrol library's internal data structures should not be made
read-only after every memory allocation, reallocation or deallocation. This may
significantly speed up execution but this will be at the expense of less safety
if the program accidentally overwrites some of the library's internal data
structures. Note that this option has no effect on systems that do not support
memory protection.
- OFLOWBYTE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies an 8-bit byte pattern with which to fill the overflow buffers of all
memory allocations. This is used internally to ensure that nothing has been
written beyond the beginning or the end of a block of allocated memory. Note
that this setting will only have an effect if the OFLOWSIZE option is in
use. Default value: OFLOWBYTE=0xAA.
- OFLOWSIZE=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the size in bytes to use for all overflow buffers, which must be a
power of two (and will be rounded up to the nearest power of two if it is not).
This is used internally to ensure that nothing has been written beyond the
beginning or the end of a block of allocated memory. Note that this setting
specifies the size for only one of the overflow buffers given to each memory
allocation; the other overflow buffer will have an identical size. No overflow
buffers will be used if this setting is zero. Default value:
OFLOWSIZE=0.
- OFLOWWATCH
-
Specifies that watch point areas should be used for overflow buffers rather than
filling with the overflow byte. This can significantly reduce the speed of
program execution. Note that this option has no effect on systems that do not
support watch point areas.
- PAGEALLOC=LOWER|UPPER
-
Specifies that each individual memory allocation should occupy at least one
page of virtual memory and should be placed at the lowest or highest point
within these pages. This allows the library to place an overflow buffer of one
page on either side of every memory allocation and write-protect these pages as
well as all free and freed memory. Note that this option has no effect on
systems that do not support memory protection, and is disabled by default on
other systems as it can slow down the speed of program execution.
- PRESERVE
-
Specifies that any reallocated or freed memory allocations should preserve their
original contents. This option must be used with the NOFREE option and
has no effect otherwise.
- PROF
-
Specifies that all memory allocations and deallocations are to be profiled and
sent to the profiling output file. Memory reallocations are treated as a
memory deallocation immediately followed by a memory allocation.
- PROFFILE=string
-
Specifies an alternative file in which to place all memory allocation profiling
information from the mpatrol library. If the PROFDIR environment variable
is set and the specified file does not contain a path component in its filename
then the profiling output file will be located in the directory specified in
PROFDIR. A filename of stderr will send this information to the
stderr file stream and a filename of stdout will do the equivalent
with the stdout file stream. Note that if a problem occurs while opening
the profiling output file then the profiling information will not be output.
Default value: PROFFILE=mpatrol.out or
PROFFILE=%n.%p.out if the PROFDIR environment variable is set.
- PROGFILE=string
-
Specifies an alternative filename with which to locate the executable file
containing the program's symbols. On most systems, the library will
automatically be able to determine this filename, but on a few systems this
option may have to be used before any or all symbols can be read.
- REALLOCSTOP=unsigned integer
-
Specifies a reallocation index at which to stop the program when a memory
allocation is being reallocated. If the ALLOCSTOP option is non-zero
then the program will be halted when the allocation matching that allocation
index is reallocated the specified number of times. Otherwise the program will
be halted the first time any allocation is reallocated the specified number of
times. Note that this setting will be ignored if its value is zero. Default
value: REALLOCSTOP=0.
- SAFESIGNALS
-
Instructs the library to save and replace certain signal handlers during the
execution of library code and to restore them afterwards. This was the default
behaviour in version 1.0 of the mpatrol library and was changed since some
memory-intensive programs became very hard to interrupt using the keyboard,
thus giving the impression that the program or system had hung.
- SHOWALL
-
Equivalent to the SHOWFREE, SHOWFREED, SHOWUNFREED,
SHOWMAP and SHOWSYMBOLS options specified together.
- SHOWFREE
-
Specifies that a summary of all of the free memory blocks should be displayed at
the end of program execution. This step will not be performed if an abnormal
termination occurs or if there were no free memory blocks.
- SHOWFREED
-
Specifies that a summary of all of the freed memory allocations should be
displayed at the end of program execution. This option must be used in
conjunction with the NOFREE option and this step will not be performed if
an abnormal termination occurs or if there were no freed allocations.
- SHOWMAP
-
Specifies that a memory map of the entire heap should be displayed at the end of
program execution. This step will not be performed if an abnormal termination
occurs or if the heap is empty.
- SHOWSYMBOLS
-
Specifies that a summary of all of the function symbols read from the program's
executable file should be displayed at the end of program execution. This step
will not be performed if an abnormal termination occurs or if no symbols could
be read from the executable file.
- SHOWUNFREED
-
Specifies that a summary of all of the unfreed memory allocations should be
displayed at the end of program execution. This step will not be performed if
an abnormal termination occurs or if there are no unfreed allocations. Note
that any marked memory allocations will not be listed.
- SMALLBOUND=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the limit in bytes up to which memory allocations should be classified
as small allocations for profiling purposes. This limit must be greater than
zero but less than the medium and large bounds. Default value:
SMALLBOUND=32.
- TRACE
-
Specifies that all memory allocations, reallocations and deallocations are to be
traced and sent to the tracing output file.
- TRACEFILE=string
-
Specifies an alternative file in which to place all memory allocation tracing
information from the mpatrol library. If the TRACEDIR environment
variable is set and the specified file does not contain a path component in its
filename then the tracing output file will be located in the directory specified
in TRACEDIR. A filename of stderr will send this information to the
stderr file stream and a filename of stdout will do the equivalent
with the stdout file stream. Note that if a problem occurs while opening
the tracing output file then the tracing information will not be output.
Default value: TRACEFILE=mpatrol.trace or
TRACEFILE=%n.%p.trace if the TRACEDIR environment variable is
set.
- UNFREEDABORT=unsigned integer
-
Specifies the minimum number of unfreed allocations at which to abort the
program just before program termination. A summary of all the allocations will
be displayed on the standard error file stream before aborting. This option may
be handy for use in batch tests as it can force tests to fail if they do not
free up a minimum number of memory allocations, although marked allocations will
not be considered as unfreed allocations. Note that this setting will be
ignored if its value is zero. Default value: UNFREEDABORT=0.
- USEDEBUG
-
Specifies that any debugging information in the executable file should be used
to obtain additional source-level information. This option will only have an
effect if the executable file contains a compiler-generated line number table
and will be ignored if the mpatrol library was built to support an object file
access library that cannot read line tables from object files.
- USEMMAP
-
Specifies that the library should use mmap instead of sbrk to
allocate user memory on UNIX platforms. This option should be used if there
are problems when using the mpatrol library in combination with another malloc
library which uses sbrk to allocate its memory. Memory internal to the
mpatrol library is allocated with mmap on systems where it is supported in
order to segregate it from user memory, and this behaviour is reversed with the
USEMMAP option. It is ignored on systems that do not support the
mmap system call.
SEE ALSO
mpatrol(1), mprof(1), mptrace(1), mleak(1),
mpsym(1), mpedit(1), hexwords(1), mmap(2),
sbrk(2), libmpalloc(3), malloc(3), new(3c++),
alloca(3), memory(3), string(3), assert(3),
elf(3e), bfd(3).
The mpatrol manual and reference card.
http://www.cbmamiga.demon.co.uk/mpatrol/
AUTHOR
Graeme S. Roy <graeme.roy@analog.com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1997-2002 Graeme S. Roy <graeme.roy@analog.com>
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more
details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- FUNCTIONS
-
- LINKING
-
- ENVIRONMENT
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHOR
-
- COPYRIGHT
-
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Time: 23:42:08 GMT, January 08, 2002