Dynamic Memory Allocation

Computer Systems Organization (Spring 2016)

CSCI-UA 201, Section 2

Instructor: Joanna Klukowska

Slides adapted from

Randal E. Bryant and David R. OHallaron (CMU)
Mohamed Zahran (NYU)

Basic Concepts

Programmers use dynamic

memory allocators (such as
malloc) to acquire VM at run
time.
For data structures whose size is
only known at runtime.

Dynamic memory allocators

manage an area of process
virtual memory known as the
heap.

malloc

brk

bss
.data
.text
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 Allocator maintains heap as collection of variable sized

blocks, which are either allocated or free
Types of allocators
Explicit allocator: application allocates and frees space
E.g., malloc and free in C
Implicit allocator: application allocates, but does not free space
E.g. garbage collection in Java, ML, and Lisp

malloc
#include <stdlib.h>
void *malloc(size_t size)
Successful:
Returns a pointer to a memory block of at least size bytes
aligned to an 8-byte (x86) or 16-byte (x86-64) boundary
If size == 0, returns NULL
Unsuccessful: returns NULL (0) and sets errno

void free(void *p)

Returns the block pointed at by p to pool of available memory
p must come from a previous call to malloc or realloc

Other functions
calloc: Version of malloc that initializes allocated block to zero.
realloc: Changes the size of a previously allocated block.
sbrk: Used internally by allocators to grow or shrink the heap
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malloc
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void foo(int n) {
int i, *p;
/* Allocate a block of n ints */
p = (int *) malloc(n * sizeof(int));
if (p == NULL) {
perror("malloc");
exit(0);
}
/* Initialize allocated block */
for (i=0; i<n; i++)
p[i] = i;

/* Return allocated block to the heap */

free(p);
}
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Memory is word addressed.

Words are int-sized.

p1 = malloc(4)

p2 = malloc(5)

p3 = malloc(6)

free(p2)

p4 = malloc(2)

 Applications
Can issue arbitrary sequence of malloc and free requests
free request must be to a mallocd block

Allocators
Cant control number or size of allocated blocks
Must respond immediately to malloc requests
i.e., cant reorder or buffer requests
Must allocate blocks from free memory
i.e., can only place allocated blocks in free memory
Must align blocks so they satisfy all alignment requirements
8-byte (x86) or 16-byte (x86-64) alignment on Linux boxes
Can manipulate and modify only free memory
Cant move the allocated blocks once they are mallocd
i.e., compaction is not allowed
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malloc

free

malloc

free

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malloc

free

malloc(p)

sbrk

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For a given block, internal fragmentation occurs if payload is smaller than

block size

Caused by
Overhead of maintaining heap data structures
Padding for alignment purposes
Explicit policy decisions
(e.g., to return a big block to satisfy a small request)

Depends only on the pattern of previous requests

Thus, easy to measure

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p1 = malloc(4)
p2 = malloc(5)
p3 = malloc(6)
free(p2)
p4 = malloc(6)

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p0
p0 = malloc(4)

free(p0)
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Method 1: Implicit list using lengthlinks all blocks

Method 2: Explicit list among the free blocks using pointers

Method 3: Segregated free list

Different free lists for different size classes

Method 4: Blocks sorted by size

Can use a balanced binary tree (e.g. Red-Black tree) with pointers within each free block, and
the length used as a key
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Implicit Free List

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For each block we need both size and allocation status

Could store this information in two words: wasteful!

Standard trick
If blocks are aligned, some low-order address bits are always 0
Instead of storing an always-0 bit, use it as a allocated/free flag
When reading size word, must mask out this bit

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*Assume 8-byte (2 word) align boundary.

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First fit:
Search list from beginning, choose first free block that fits
Can take linear time in total number of blocks (allocated and free)
In practice it can cause splinters at beginning of list

Next fit:
Like first fit, but search list starting where previous search finished
Should often be faster than first fit: avoids re-scanning unhelpful blocks
Some research suggests that fragmentation is worse

Best fit:
Search the list, choose the best free block: fits, with fewest bytes left over
Keeps fragments smallusually improves memory utilization
Will typically run slower than first fit

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addblock(p, 4)

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free(p)

malloc(5)

There is enough free space, but the allocator wont be able to find it
(since it sees a block of 4 and block of 2, not a block of 5).
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free(p)

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What do we do, if the next block is free as well?

Not possible if we always coalesce.
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29

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Placement policy:
First-fit, next-fit, best-fit, etc.
Trades off lower throughput for less fragmentation
Interesting observation: segregated free lists (next lecture) approximate a best fit placement
policy without having to search entire free list

Splitting policy:
When do we go ahead and split free blocks?
How much internal fragmentation are we willing to tolerate?

Coalescing policy:
Immediate coalescing: coalesce each time free is called
Deferred coalescing: try to improve performance of free by deferring coalescing until
needed. Examples:
Coalesce as you scan the free list for malloc
Coalesce when the amount of external fragmentation reaches some threshold

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Implementation: very simple

Allocate cost:
linear time worst case

Free cost:
constant time worst case
even with coalescing

Memory usage:
will depend on placement policy
First-fit, next-fit or best-fit

Not used in practice for malloc/free because of linear-time allocation

used in many special purpose applications

However, the concepts of splitting and boundary tag coalescing are general
to all allocators
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Explicit Free List

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Method 1: Implicit list using lengthlinks all blocks

Method 2: Explicit list among the free blocks using pointers

Method 3: Segregated free list

Different free lists for different size classes

Method 4: Blocks sorted by size

Can use a balanced binary tree (e.g. Red-Black tree) with pointers within each free block, and
the length used as a key
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= malloc()
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free( )

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free( )

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free( )

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free( )

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Method 1: Implicit list using lengthlinks all blocks

Method 2: Explicit list among the free blocks using pointers

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Method 3: Segregated free list

Different free lists for different size classes

Method 4: Blocks sorted by size

Can use a balanced tree (e.g. Red-Black tree) with pointers within each free block, and the
length used as a key

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Segregated Free List

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sbrk()

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Garbage Collection

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void foo() {
int *p = malloc(128);
return; /* p block is now garbage */
}

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int

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Memory Related Bugs

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int *p
int *p[13]
int *(p[13])
int **p
int (*p)[13]
int *f()
int (*f)()
int (*(*f())[13])()

int (*(*x[3])())[5]
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scanf
int val;
...
scanf("%d", val);

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/* return y = Ax */
int *matvec(int **A, int *x) {
int *y = malloc(N*sizeof(int));
int i, j;
for (i=0; i<N; i++)
for (j=0; j<N; j++)
y[i] += A[i][j]*x[j];
return y;
}

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int **p;
p = malloc(N*sizeof(int));
for (i=0; i<N; i++) {
p[i] = malloc(M*sizeof(int));
}

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int **p;
p = malloc(N*sizeof(int *));
for (i=0; i<=N; i++) {
p[i] = malloc(M*sizeof(int));
}

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char s[8];
int i;
gets(s);

/* reads 123456789 from stdin */

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int *search(int *p, int val) {

while (*p && *p != val)
p += sizeof(int);
return p;
}

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int * heap_delete(int **binheap, int *size) {

int *packet;
packet = binheap[0];
binheap[0] = binheap[*size - 1];
*size--;
heapify(binheap, *size, 0);
return(packet);
}

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int *foo () {
int val;
return &val;
}

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x = malloc(N*sizeof(int));
<manipulate x>
free(x);
y = malloc(M*sizeof(int));
<manipulate y>
free(x);

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x = malloc(N*sizeof(int));
<manipulate x>
free(x);
...
y = malloc( M*sizeof(int) );
for (i=0; i < M; i++)
y[i] = x[i]++;

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foo() {
int *x = malloc(N*sizeof(int));
...
return;
}

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struct list {
int val;
struct list *next;
};
foo() {
struct list *head = malloc(sizeof(struct list));
head->val = 0;
head->next = NULL;
<create and manipulate the rest of the list>
...
free(head);
return;
}
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gdb

valgrind

setenv MALLOC_CHECK_ 3 (see the manual page for mallopt)

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