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MALLOC(9) BSD Kernel Developer's Manual MALLOC(9) NAME malloc, free, realloc, reallocf, MALLOC_DEFINE, MALLOC_DECLARE -- kernel memory management routines SYNOPSIS #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/malloc.h> void * malloc(size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags); void * mallocarray(size_t nmemb, size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags); void free(void *addr, struct malloc_type *type); void zfree(void *addr, struct malloc_type *type); void * realloc(void *addr, size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags); void * reallocf(void *addr, size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags); size_t malloc_usable_size(const void *addr); void * malloc_exec(size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags); MALLOC_DECLARE(type); #include <sys/param.h> #include <sys/malloc.h> #include <sys/kernel.h> MALLOC_DEFINE(type, shortdesc, longdesc); #include <sys/param.h> #include <sys/domainset.h> void * malloc_domainset(size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, struct domainset *ds, int flags); void * malloc_domainset_exec(size_t size, struct malloc_type *type, struct domainset *ds, int flags); DESCRIPTION The malloc() function allocates uninitialized memory in kernel address space for an object whose size is specified by size. The malloc_domainset() variant allocates memory from a specific numa(4) domain using the specified domain selection policy. See domainset(9) for some example policies. Both malloc_exec() and malloc_domainset_exec() can be used to return exe- cutable memory. Not all platforms enforce a distinction between exe- cutable and non-executable memory. The mallocarray() function allocates uninitialized memory in kernel ad- dress space for an array of nmemb entries whose size is specified by size. The free() function releases memory at address addr that was previously allocated by malloc() for re-use. The memory is not zeroed. If addr is NULL, then free() does nothing. Like free(), the zfree() function releases memory at address addr that was previously allocated by malloc() for re-use. However, zfree() will zero the memory before it is released. The realloc() function changes the size of the previously allocated mem- ory referenced by addr to size bytes. The contents of the memory are un- changed up to the lesser of the new and old sizes. Note that the re- turned value may differ from addr. If the requested memory cannot be al- located, NULL is returned and the memory referenced by addr is valid and unchanged. If addr is NULL, the realloc() function behaves identically to malloc() for the specified size. The reallocf() function is identical to realloc() except that it will free the passed pointer when the requested memory cannot be allocated. The malloc_usable_size() function returns the usable size of the alloca- tion pointed to by addr. The return value may be larger than the size that was requested during allocation. Unlike its standard C library counterpart (malloc(3)), the kernel version takes two more arguments. The flags argument further qualifies malloc()'s operational characteristics as follows: M_ZERO Causes the allocated memory to be set to all zeros. M_NODUMP For allocations greater than page size, causes the allocated mem- ory to be excluded from kernel core dumps. M_NOWAIT Causes malloc(), realloc(), and reallocf() to return NULL if the request cannot be immediately fulfilled due to resource shortage. Note that M_NOWAIT is required when running in an interrupt con- text. M_WAITOK Indicates that it is OK to wait for resources. If the request cannot be immediately fulfilled, the current process is put to sleep to wait for resources to be released by other processes. The malloc(), mallocarray(), realloc(), and reallocf() functions cannot return NULL if M_WAITOK is specified. If the multiplica- tion of nmemb and size would cause an integer overflow, the mallocarray() function induces a panic. M_USE_RESERVE Indicates that the system can use its reserve of memory to sat- isfy the request. This option should only be used in combination with M_NOWAIT when an allocation failure cannot be tolerated by the caller without catastrophic effects on the system. Exactly one of either M_WAITOK or M_NOWAIT must be specified. The type argument is used to perform statistics on memory usage, and for basic sanity checks. It can be used to identify multiple allocations. The statistics can be examined by `vmstat -m'. A type is defined using struct malloc_type via the MALLOC_DECLARE() and MALLOC_DEFINE() macros. /* sys/something/foo_extern.h */ MALLOC_DECLARE(M_FOOBUF); /* sys/something/foo_main.c */ MALLOC_DEFINE(M_FOOBUF, "foobuffers", "Buffers to foo data into the ether"); /* sys/something/foo_subr.c */ ... buf = malloc(sizeof(*buf), M_FOOBUF, M_NOWAIT); In order to use MALLOC_DEFINE(), one must include <sys/param.h> (instead of <sys/types.h>) and <sys/kernel.h>. CONTEXT malloc(), realloc() and reallocf() may not be called from fast interrupts handlers. When called from threaded interrupts, flags must contain M_NOWAIT. malloc(), realloc() and reallocf() may sleep when called with M_WAITOK. free() never sleeps. However, malloc(), realloc(), reallocf() and free() may not be called in a critical section or while holding a spin lock. Any calls to malloc() (even with M_NOWAIT) or free() when holding a vnode(9) interlock, will cause a LOR (Lock Order Reversal) due to the in- tertwining of VM Objects and Vnodes. IMPLEMENTATION NOTES The memory allocator allocates memory in chunks that have size a power of two for requests up to the size of a page of memory. For larger re- quests, one or more pages is allocated. While it should not be relied upon, this information may be useful for optimizing the efficiency of memory use. RETURN VALUES The malloc(), realloc(), and reallocf() functions return a kernel virtual address that is suitably aligned for storage of any type of object, or NULL if the request could not be satisfied (implying that M_NOWAIT was set). DIAGNOSTICS A kernel compiled with the INVARIANTS configuration option attempts to detect memory corruption caused by such things as writing outside the al- located area and imbalanced calls to the malloc() and free() functions. Failing consistency checks will cause a panic or a system console mes- sage. SEE ALSO numa(4), vmstat(8), contigmalloc(9), domainset(9), memguard(9), vnode(9) BSD October 30, 2020 BSD
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | CONTEXT | IMPLEMENTATION NOTES | RETURN VALUES | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO
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