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-\input texinfo @c -*- Texinfo -*-
-@setfilename mmalloc.info
-
-@ifinfo
-@format
-START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
-* Mmalloc: (mmalloc). The GNU mapped-malloc package.
-END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
-@end format
-
-This file documents the GNU mmalloc (mapped-malloc) package, written by
-fnf@@cygnus.com.
-
-Copyright (C) 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-
-Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
-this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
-are preserved on all copies.
-
-@ignore
-Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
-results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
-notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
-(this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
-
-@end ignore
-Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
-manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
-entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
-permission notice identical to this one.
-
-Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
-into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
-@end ifinfo
-@iftex
-@c @finalout
-@setchapternewpage odd
-@settitle MMALLOC, the GNU memory-mapped malloc package
-@titlepage
-@title mmalloc
-@subtitle The GNU memory-mapped malloc package
-@author Fred Fish
-@author Cygnus Support
-@page
-
-@tex
-\def\$#1${{#1}} % Kluge: collect RCS revision info without $...$
-\xdef\manvers{\$Revision$} % For use in headers, footers too
-{\parskip=0pt
-\hfill Cygnus Support\par
-\hfill fnf\@cygnus.com\par
-\hfill {\it MMALLOC, the GNU memory-mapped malloc package}, \manvers\par
-\hfill \TeX{}info \texinfoversion\par
-}
-@end tex
-
-@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
-Copyright @copyright{} 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-
-Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
-this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
-are preserved on all copies.
-
-Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
-manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that
-the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
-permission notice identical to this one.
-
-Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
-into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
-@end titlepage
-@end iftex
-
-@ifinfo
-@node Top, Overview, (dir), (dir)
-@top mmalloc
-This file documents the GNU memory-mapped malloc package mmalloc.
-
-@menu
-* Overview:: Overall Description
-* Implementation:: Implementation
-
- --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
-
-Implementation
-
-* Compatibility:: Backwards Compatibility
-* Functions:: Function Descriptions
-@end menu
-
-@end ifinfo
-
-@node Overview, Implementation, Top, Top
-@chapter Overall Description
-
-This is a heavily modified version of GNU @code{malloc}. It uses
-@code{mmap} as the basic mechanism for for obtaining memory from the
-system, rather than @code{sbrk}. This gives it several advantages over the
-more traditional malloc:
-
-@itemize @bullet
-@item
-Providing suitable precautions are taken to avoid memory region
-collisions, @code{sbrk} is now available for use by applications that
-use this package and still need to use some memory management
-package that includes functions like @code{malloc}, @code{realloc}, and
-@code{free}.
-
-@item
-Several different memory pools can be used, each of them growing
-or shinking under control of @code{mmap}, with the @code{mmalloc} functions
-using a specific pool on a call by call basis.
-
-@item
-By using @code{mmap}, it is easy to create data pools which are intended to
-be persistent and exist as a filesystem object after the creating
-process has gone away.
-
-@item
-Because multiple memory pools can be managed, data used for a
-specific purpose can be allocated into its own memory pool, making
-it easier to allow applications to ``dump'' and ``restore'' initialized
-malloc-managed memory regions. For example, the ``unexec'' hack popularized
-by GNU Emacs could potentially go away.
-@end itemize
-
-@node Implementation, , Overview, Top
-@chapter Implementation
-
-The @code{mmalloc} functions contain no internal static state. All
-@code{mmalloc} internal data is allocated in the mapped in region, along
-with the user data that it manages. This allows it to manage multiple
-such regions and to ``pick up where it left off'' when such regions are
-later dynamically mapped back in.
-
-In some sense, malloc has been ``purified'' to contain no internal state
-information and generalized to use multiple memory regions rather than a
-single region managed by @code{sbrk}. However the new routines now need an
-extra parameter which informs @code{mmalloc} which memory region it is dealing
-with (along with other information). This parameter is called the
-@dfn{malloc descriptor}.
-
-For ease of initial implementation, and to avoid exporting or importing
-any more global variables or routines than necessary, this package is
-implemented with all functions contained within a single source file.
-At some future point, once everything has stabilized, it may be desirable
-to split it up into separate files.
-
-The functions initially provided by @code{mmalloc} are:
-
-@example
-void *mmalloc_attach (int fd, void *baseaddr);
-void *mmalloc_detach (void *md);
-int mmalloc_errno (void *md);
-int mmalloc_setkey (void *md, int keynum, void *key);
-void *mmalloc_getkey (void *md, int keynum);
-
-void *mmalloc (void *md, size_t size);
-void *mrealloc (void *md, void *ptr, size_t size);
-void *mvalloc (void *md, size_t size);
-void mfree (void *md, void *ptr);
-@end example
-
-@menu
-* Compatibility:: Backwards Compatibility
-* Functions:: Function Descriptions
-@end menu
-
-@node Compatibility, Functions, Implementation, Implementation
-@section Backwards Compatibility
-
-To allow a single malloc package to be used in a given application,
-provision is made for the traditional @code{malloc}, @code{realloc}, and
-@code{free} functions to be implemented as special cases of the
-@code{mmalloc} functions. In particular, if any of the functions that
-expect malloc descriptors are called with a @code{NULL} pointer rather than a
-valid malloc descriptor, then they default to using a memory-mapped region
-starting at the current @code{sbrk} value and mapped to @file{/dev/zero}.
-Applications can simply include the following defines to use the
-@code{mmalloc} versions:
-
-@example
-#define malloc(size) mmalloc ((void *)0, (size))
-#define realloc(ptr,size) mrealloc ((void *)0, (ptr), (size));
-#define free(ptr) mfree ((void *)0, (ptr))
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-or replace the existing @code{malloc}, @code{realloc}, and @code{free}
-calls with the above patterns if using @code{#define} causes problems.
-
-Note that this does not prevent calls to @code{malloc}, @code{realloc},
-or @code{free} within libraries from continuing to use the library
-version of malloc, so if this is a problem, the compatibility issue
-needs to be dealt with in another way.
-
-
-@node Functions, , Compatibility, Implementation
-@section Function Descriptions
-
-These are the details on the functions that make up the @code{mmalloc}
-package.
-
-@table @code
-@item void *mmalloc_attach (int @var{fd}, void *@var{baseaddr});
-Initialize access to a @code{mmalloc} managed region.
-
-If @var{fd} is a valid file descriptor for an open file, then data for the
-@code{mmalloc} managed region is mapped to that file. Otherwise
-@file{/dev/zero} is used and the data will not exist in any filesystem object.
-
-If the open file corresponding to @var{fd} is from a previous use of
-@code{mmalloc} and passes some basic sanity checks to ensure that it is
-compatible with the current @code{mmalloc} package, then its data is
-mapped in and is immediately accessible at the same addresses in
-the current process as the process that created the file.
-
-If @var{baseaddr} is not @code{NULL}, the mapping is established
-starting at the specified address in the process address space. If
-@var{baseaddr} is @code{NULL}, the @code{mmalloc} package chooses a
-suitable address at which to start the mapped region, which will be the
-value of the previous mapping if opening an existing file which was
-previously built by @code{mmalloc}, or for new files will be a value
-chosen by @code{mmap}.
-
-Specifying @var{baseaddr} provides more control over where the regions
-start and how big they can be before bumping into existing mapped
-regions or future mapped regions.
-
-On success, returns a malloc descriptor which is used in subsequent
-calls to other @code{mmalloc} package functions. It is explicitly
-@samp{void *} (@samp{char *} for systems that don't fully support
-@code{void}) so that users of the package don't have to worry about the
-actual implementation details.
-
-On failure returns @code{NULL}.
-
-@item void *mmalloc_detach (void *@var{md});
-Terminate access to a @code{mmalloc} managed region identified by the
-descriptor @var{md}, by closing the base file and unmapping all memory
-pages associated with the region.
-
-Returns @code{NULL} on success.
-
-Returns the malloc descriptor on failure, which can subsequently
-be used for further action (such as obtaining more information about
-the nature of the failure).
-
-@item void *mmalloc (void *@var{md}, size_t @var{size});
-Given an @code{mmalloc} descriptor @var{md}, allocate additional memory of
-@var{size} bytes in the associated mapped region.
-
-@item *mrealloc (void *@var{md}, void *@var{ptr}, size_t @var{size});
-Given an @code{mmalloc} descriptor @var{md} and a pointer to memory
-previously allocated by @code{mmalloc} in @var{ptr}, reallocate the
-memory to be @var{size} bytes long, possibly moving the existing
-contents of memory if necessary.
-
-@item void *mvalloc (void *@var{md}, size_t @var{size});
-Like @code{mmalloc} but the resulting memory is aligned on a page boundary.
-
-@item void mfree (void *@var{md}, void *@var{ptr});
-Given an @code{mmalloc} descriptor @var{md} and a pointer to memory previously
-allocated by @code{mmalloc} in @var{ptr}, free the previously allocated memory.
-
-@item int mmalloc_errno (void *@var{md});
-Given a @code{mmalloc} descriptor, if the last @code{mmalloc} operation
-failed for some reason due to a system call failure, then
-returns the associated @code{errno}. Returns 0 otherwise.
-@end table
-
-@bye