NAME

malloc, mallocz, smalloc, free, realloc, calloc - kernel memory allocators

SYNOPSIS

void* malloc(ulong size)

void* mallocz(ulong size, int clr)

void* smalloc(ulong size)

void* realloc(void *p, ulong size)

void* calloc(ulong n, ulong szelem)

void free(void *p)

DESCRIPTION

These functions allocate memory from the mainmem memory pool. All but smalloc (which sleeps) may safely be called by interrupt handlers.

Malloc returns a pointer to a block of at least size bytes, initialised to zero. The result is aligned on a 32-bit boundary. Mallocz is similar, but only clears the memory if clr is non-zero.

Smalloc returns a pointer to a block of size bytes, initialised to zero. If the memory is not immediately available, smalloc retries every 100 milliseconds until the memory is acquired.

Calloc returns a pointer to a block of memory of at least n*szelem bytes, initialised to zero.

Realloc changes the size of the block pointed to by p to size bytes, if possible without moving the data, and returns a pointer to the block. The contents are unchanged up to the lesser of old and new sizes, and any new space allocated is initialised to zero. If p is a null pointer, realloc returns the equivalent of malloc(size).

The argument to free is a pointer to a block of memory allocated by one of the routines above, which is returned to the allocation pool, or a null pointer, which is ignored.

DIAGNOSTICS

All functions except smalloc return a null pointer if space is unavailable.

SEE ALSO

xalloc(10.2)

MALLOC(10.2 )

Rev:  Tue Mar 31 02:42:39 GMT 2015