Managed memory allocator
[Memory functions]

The managed memory allocator is a fragmentation-free memory manager. More...

Files
file	mmem.c
	Implementation of the managed memory allocator.
file	mmem.h
	Header file for the managed memory allocator.
Defines
#define	MMEM_PTR(m)
	Get a pointer to the managed memory.
Functions
int	mmem_alloc (struct mmem *m, unsigned int size)
	Allocate a managed memory block.
void	mmem_free (struct mmem *m)
	Deallocate a managed memory block.
void	mmem_init (void)
	Initialize the managed memory module.

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Detailed Description

The managed memory allocator is a fragmentation-free memory manager.

It keeps the allocated memory free from fragmentation by compacting the memory when blocks are freed. A program that uses the managed memory module cannot be sure that allocated memory stays in place. Therefore, a level of indirection is used: access to allocated memory must always be done using a special macro.

Note:

This module has not been heavily tested.

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Define Documentation

#define MMEM_PTR

(

m

)

Get a pointer to the managed memory.

Parameters:

m

A pointer to the struct mmem

Returns:

A pointer to the memory block, or NULL if memory could not be allocated.

Author:

Adam Dunkels

This macro is used to get a pointer to a memory block allocated with mmem_alloc().

Definition at line 76 of file mmem.h.

Referenced by elfloader_arch_allocate_ram().

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Function Documentation

int mmem_alloc	(	struct mmem *	m,
		unsigned int	size
	)

Allocate a managed memory block.

Parameters:

	m	A pointer to a struct mmem.
	size	The size of the requested memory block

Returns:

Non-zero if the memory could be allocated, zero if memory was not available.

Author:

Adam Dunkels

This function allocates a chunk of managed memory. The memory allocated with this function must be deallocated using the mmem_free() function.

Note:

This function does NOT return a pointer to the allocated memory, but a pointer to a structure that contains information about the managed memory. The macro MMEM_PTR() is used to get a pointer to the allocated memory.

Referenced by elfloader_arch_allocate_ram().

void mmem_free

(

struct mmem *

m

)

Deallocate a managed memory block.

Parameters:

m

A pointer to the managed memory block

Author:

Adam Dunkels

This function deallocates a managed memory block that previously has been allocated with mmem_alloc().

Referenced by elfloader_arch_allocate_ram().

void mmem_init

(

void

)

Initialize the managed memory module.

Author:

Adam Dunkels

This function initializes the managed memory module and should be called before any other function from the module.