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Re: malloc

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> writes:
> On Feb 17, 11:26 am, Keith Thompson <ks...@mib.org> wrote:
[...]
>> I suspect he's referring to the malloc() implementation
>> on typical Linux systems, which overcommits memory by default.
>> It can allocate a large chunk of address space for which no actual
>> memory is available.  The memory isn't actually allocated until
>> the process attempts to access it.  If there isn't enough memory
>> available for the allocation, the "OOM killer" kills some process
>> (not necessarily the one that did the allocation).
>
> That crossed my mind, but what he said doesn't correspond with what
> happens: malloc does return something and __doesn't__ crash the
> program. OOM killer kills the code upon an attempt to access that
> memory.

If you call malloc() and it overcommits, it won't crash the
program until you access the allocated memory.  (The rationale for
overcommitting is that most programs don't actually use most of
the memory the memory the allocate.  I find that odd)

> But given the way he explained it, it's possible that he's affected by
> OOM killer, and he forgot, or never knew, what really happened.

Given the post you're responding to, I would find it more likely that
he knows exactly what happened and didn't mention it.  Reading his
more recent followup, apparently it was on VMS, not Linux, and was
likely a bug in DEC's C library.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
    Will write code for food.
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"

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malloc jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-02-16 21:04 +0000
  Re: malloc Devil with the China Blue Dress <chine.bleu@yahoo.com> - 2012-02-16 13:21 -0800
    Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-16 16:16 -0700
      Re: malloc Paavo Helde <myfirstname@osa.pri.ee> - 2012-02-17 14:46 -0600
        Re: malloc Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-02-17 14:51 -0800
          Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-17 19:58 -0700
            Re: malloc Paavo Helde <myfirstname@osa.pri.ee> - 2012-02-18 02:18 -0600
              Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-18 01:58 -0700
              Re: malloc glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-02-18 15:30 +0000
            Re: malloc Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-02-18 10:36 +0000
            Re: malloc William Ahern <william@wilbur.25thandClement.com> - 2012-02-18 16:43 -0800
              Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-18 20:03 -0700
                Re: malloc Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org> - 2012-02-19 12:49 +0900
                Re: malloc William Ahern <william@wilbur.25thandClement.com> - 2012-02-18 21:08 -0800
                Re: malloc "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2012-02-19 18:23 +0100
                Re: malloc William Ahern <william@wilbur.25thandClement.com> - 2012-02-18 21:06 -0800
                Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-18 23:06 -0700
      Re: malloc "Asger Joergensen" <Junk@Asger-P.dk> - 2012-02-19 15:54 +0000
        Re: malloc BGB <cr88192@hotmail.com> - 2012-02-19 09:37 -0700
    Re: malloc Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-02-16 20:27 -0500
      Re: malloc Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-02-16 23:40 -0800
        Re: malloc Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-02-17 02:26 -0800
          Re: malloc Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-02-17 04:01 -0800
            Re: malloc Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-02-17 09:25 -0800
              Re: malloc 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-02-17 09:37 -0800
              Re: malloc Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-02-17 14:49 -0800
                Re: malloc glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-02-18 01:43 +0000
                Re: malloc Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-02-18 02:04 +0000
                Re: malloc scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-02-18 03:04 +0000
                Re: malloc Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2012-02-17 22:15 -0600
                Re: malloc Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-02-17 23:48 -0800
              Re: malloc Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2012-02-17 23:29 +0000
        Re: malloc Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-02-17 08:06 -0500
          Re: malloc Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-02-18 07:57 -0800
            Re: malloc Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2012-02-18 10:57 -0800
            Re: malloc Eric Sosman <esosman@ieee-dot-org.invalid> - 2012-02-19 08:51 -0500
      Re: malloc scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-02-17 20:31 +0000
        Re: malloc Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-02-18 00:01 -0800
          Re: malloc scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-02-18 17:07 +0000
            Re: malloc Joshua Maurice <joshuamaurice@gmail.com> - 2012-02-18 18:14 -0800
              Re: malloc scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-02-19 17:14 +0000
  Re: malloc Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-02-16 23:43 -0800
  Re: malloc "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2012-02-19 16:44 +0100

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