malloc_info (3)

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Copyright (c) 2012 by Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>

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(The comments found at the beginning of the groff file "man3/malloc_info.3".)

NAME

malloc_info - export malloc state to a stream

SYNOPSIS

#include <malloc.h>

int malloc_info(int options, FILE *stream);

DESCRIPTION

The malloc_info() function exports an XML string that describes the current state of the memory-allocation implementation in the caller. The string is printed on the file stream stream. The exported string includes information about all arenas (see malloc(3)).
As currently implemented, options must be zero.

RETURN VALUE

On success, malloc_info() returns 0; on error, it returns -1, with errno set to indicate the cause.

ERRORS

EINVAL

options was nonzero.

VERSIONS

malloc_info() was added to glibc in version 2.10.

ATTRIBUTES

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Interface	Attribute	Value
malloc_info()	Thread safety	MT-Safe

CONFORMING TO

This function is a GNU extension.

NOTES

The memory-allocation information is provided as an XML string (rather than a C structure) because the information may change over time (according to changes in the underlying implementation). The output XML string includes a version field.
The open_memstream(3) function can be used to send the output of malloc_info() directly into a buffer in memory, rather than to a file.
The malloc_info() function is designed to address deficiencies in malloc_stats(3) and mallinfo(3).

EXAMPLE

The program below takes up to four command-line arguments, of which the first three are mandatory. The first argument specifies the number of threads that the program should create. All of the threads, including the main thread, allocate the number of blocks of memory specified by the second argument. The third argument controls the size of the blocks to be allocated. The main thread creates blocks of this size, the second thread created by the program allocates blocks of twice this size, the third thread allocates blocks of three times this size, and so on.
The program calls malloc_info() twice to display the memory-allocation state. The first call takes place before any threads are created or memory allocated. The second call is performed after all threads have allocated memory.
In the following example, the command-line arguments specify the creation of one additional thread, and both the main thread and the additional thread allocate 10000 blocks of memory. After the blocks of memory have been allocated, malloc_info() shows the state of two allocation arenas.

$ getconf GNU_LIBC_VERSION
glibc 2.13
$ ./a.out 1 10000 100
============ Before allocating blocks ============
<malloc version="1">
<heap nr="0">
<sizes>
</sizes>
<total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/>
<total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/>
<system type="current" size="135168"/>
<system type="max" size="135168"/>
<aspace type="total" size="135168"/>
<aspace type="mprotect" size="135168"/>
</heap>
<total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/>
<total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/>
<system type="current" size="135168"/>
<system type="max" size="135168"/>
<aspace type="total" size="135168"/>
<aspace type="mprotect" size="135168"/>
</malloc>

============ After allocating blocks ============
<malloc version="1">
<heap nr="0">
<sizes>
</sizes>
<total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/>
<total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/>
<system type="current" size="1081344"/>
<system type="max" size="1081344"/>
<aspace type="total" size="1081344"/>
<aspace type="mprotect" size="1081344"/>
</heap>
<heap nr="1">
<sizes>
</sizes>
<total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/>
<total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/>
<system type="current" size="1032192"/>
<system type="max" size="1032192"/>
<aspace type="total" size="1032192"/>
<aspace type="mprotect" size="1032192"/>
</heap>
<total type="fast" count="0" size="0"/>
<total type="rest" count="0" size="0"/>
<system type="current" size="2113536"/>
<system type="max" size="2113536"/>
<aspace type="total" size="2113536"/>
<aspace type="mprotect" size="2113536"/>
</malloc>

Program source

#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <malloc.h>
#include <errno.h>

static size_t blockSize;
static int numThreads, numBlocks;

#define errExit(msg)    do { perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); \
                        } while (0)

static void *
thread_func(void *arg)
{
    int j;
    int tn = (int) arg;

    /* The multiplier aq(2 + tn)aq ensures that each thread (including
       the main thread) allocates a different amount of memory */

    for (j = 0; j < numBlocks; j++)
        if (malloc(blockSize * (2 + tn)) == NULL)
            errExit("malloc-thread");

    sleep(100);         /* Sleep until main thread terminates */
    return NULL;
}

int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    int j, tn, sleepTime;
    pthread_t *thr;

    if (argc < 4) {
        fprintf(stderr,
                "%s num-threads num-blocks block-size [sleep-time]\n",
                argv[0]);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    numThreads = atoi(argv[1]);
    numBlocks = atoi(argv[2]);
    blockSize = atoi(argv[3]);
    sleepTime = (argc > 4) ? atoi(argv[4]) : 0;

    thr = calloc(numThreads, sizeof(pthread_t));
    if (thr == NULL)
        errExit("calloc");

    printf("============ Before allocating blocks ============\n");
    malloc_info(0, stdout);

    /* Create threads that allocate different amounts of memory */

    for (tn = 0; tn < numThreads; tn++) {
        errno = pthread_create(&thr[tn], NULL, thread_func,
                               (void *) tn);
        if (errno != 0)
            errExit("pthread_create");

        /* If we add a sleep interval after the start-up of each
           thread, the threads likely wonaqt contend for malloc
           mutexes, and therefore additional arenas wonaqt be
           allocated (see malloc(3)). */

        if (sleepTime > 0)
            sleep(sleepTime);
    }

    /* The main thread also allocates some memory */

    for (j = 0; j < numBlocks; j++)
        if (malloc(blockSize) == NULL)
            errExit("malloc");

    sleep(2);           /* Give all threads a chance to
                           complete allocations */

    printf("\n============ After allocating blocks ============\n");
    malloc_info(0, stdout);

    exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}

SEE ALSO

mallinfo(3), malloc(3), malloc_stats(3), mallopt(3), open_memstream(3)

COLOPHON

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