MALLOC(10.2) MALLOC(10.2)
NAME
malloc, mallocz, smalloc, free, realloc, calloc - kernel memory alloca‐
tors
SYNOPSIS
void* malloc(ulong size)
void* mallocz(ulong size, int clr)
void* smalloc(ulong size)
void* realloc(void *p, ulong size)
void* calloc(ulong n, ulong szelem)
void free(void *p)
DESCRIPTION
These functions allocate memory from the mainmem memory pool. All but
smalloc (which sleeps) may safely be called by interrupt handlers.
Malloc returns a pointer to a block of at least size bytes, initialised
to zero. The result is aligned on a 32-bit boundary. Mallocz is simi‐
lar, but only clears the memory if clr is non-zero.
Smalloc returns a pointer to a block of size bytes, initialised to
zero. If the memory is not immediately available, smalloc retries
every 100 milliseconds until the memory is acquired.
Calloc returns a pointer to a block of memory of at least n*szelem
bytes, initialised to zero.
Realloc changes the size of the block pointed to by p to size bytes, if
possible without moving the data, and returns a pointer to the block.
The contents are unchanged up to the lesser of old and new sizes, and
any new space allocated is initialised to zero. If p is a null
pointer, realloc returns the equivalent of malloc(size).
The argument to free is a pointer to a block of memory allocated by one
of the routines above, which is returned to the allocation pool, or a
null pointer, which is ignored.
DIAGNOSTICS
All functions except smalloc return a null pointer if space is unavail‐
able.
SEE ALSO
xalloc(10.2)
MALLOC(10.2)
