Re: C++ Memory Management Question

From	Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com>
Subject	Re: C++ Memory Management Question
Date	2012-01-03 19:46 +0000
Message-Id	<pan.2012.01.03.19.46.18.389000@nowhere.com>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.c++
References	<nn4uf7hmc7c5r5jac8cq8qjhsguk8alh77@4ax.com> <pan.2012.01.01.09.16.37.426000@nowhere.com> <9d94g7huiqts4v90f1tvd8ipmk2v4fv4gt@4ax.com> <1bd44f03-cf3d-4116-8d9c-20d8087f2eaa@h12g2000yqg.googlegroups.com> <30g6g7tcd4iutp61q4n8e7h8od6ru2eark@4ax.com>
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On Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:53:47 -0500, Datesfat Chicks wrote:

> I'm a little surprised at the SIGKILL response.  If you're going to
> have a std::bad_alloc exception, then it seems an improper
> implementation if that exception is useless because the process gets
> killed by another mechanism before the exception is thrown.

They serve different purposes. std::bad_alloc is thrown if you want more
memory but it cannot be provided (i.e. it isn't available from the heap
and the OS won't let you enlarge the heap). SIGKILL occurs if the OS
decides that it wants the memory which your process already has.

The latter is primarily an issue on systems where overcommit is enabled.
Overcommit being enabled is the norm; if overcommit is disabled, the OS
won't allow a process to fork() unless it can provide sufficient virtual
memory to back all writeable pages in the process' address space. This is
usually overkill, as most process which call fork() will promptly call
execve() having modified only a tiny fraction of their writable memory.

The problem comes when the kernel finds that it actually needs more memory
than is available, e.g. because one copy-on-write page too many has
actually been written to. The only way out of that situation is to revoke
allocations which have already been granted by sacrificing an existing
process. When doing so, it will typically choose the most "greedy"
unprivileged process available. Any process where handling out-of-memory
conditions was a significant design consideration would seem to be a
likely candidate to be sacrificed.

BTW: regarding your original problem (how to handle the C++ side of
allocation failures), I remembered std::set_new_handler(). If a handler
has been registered via this function, operator new should[1] call it if
it cannot obtain the desired memory. In fact, it should call it repeatedly
until either the allocation succeeds or the handler unregisters itself
(IOW: if you write such a handler, it must unregister itself if it cannot
release any more memory, otherwise operator new will get stuck in an
infinite loop). std::bad_alloc will only be thrown if allocation fails and
no handler is registered.

[1] The global operator new can be relied upon to do so; user-defined
versions of operator new may be a different matter.

Thread

C++ Memory Management Question Datesfat Chicks <datesfat.chicks@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 08:56 -0500
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Victor Bazarov <v.bazarov@comcast.invalid> - 2011-12-31 09:44 -0500
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Datesfat Chicks <datesfat.chicks@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 10:17 -0500
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question "MikeWhy" <boat042-nospam@yahoo.com> - 2011-12-31 12:56 -0600
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question jt@toerring.de (Jens Thoms Toerring) - 2011-12-31 19:05 +0000
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Carlo Milanesi <carlo.nospam.milanesi@libero.it> - 2011-12-31 18:18 +0100
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question Victor Bazarov <v.bazarov@comcast.invalid> - 2011-12-31 13:04 -0500
        Re: C++ Memory Management Question Carlo Milanesi <carlo.nospam.milanesi@libero.it> - 2011-12-31 19:42 +0100
        Re: C++ Memory Management Question Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2011-12-31 23:25 -0800
          Re: C++ Memory Management Question Victor Bazarov <v.bazarov@comcast.invalid> - 2012-01-01 09:39 -0500
            Re: C++ Memory Management Question Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-01-01 08:20 -0800
            Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-01 19:05 +0000
              Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-01 19:36 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-01 19:49 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 11:26 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 14:32 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 15:54 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 16:26 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 16:58 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 21:14 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-03 11:11 +1300
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2012-01-03 20:53 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-03 21:21 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-04 12:15 +1300
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question gwowen <gwowen@gmail.com> - 2012-01-04 08:20 -0800
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 22:24 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 22:55 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 23:27 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-10 01:01 -0800
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question 88888 Dihedral <dihedral88888@googlemail.com> - 2012-01-02 21:45 -0800
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-01-03 00:32 -0800
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question "Paul" <pchrist<nospam>or@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-03 17:34 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-10 00:47 -0800
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question BCFD36 <bcfd36@cruzio.com> - 2012-01-10 22:57 -0800
              Re: C++ Memory Management Question Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-03 09:31 +1300
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-02 21:02 +0000
                Re: C++ Memory Management Question Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2012-01-03 11:09 +1300
          Re: C++ Memory Management Question Leigh Johnston <leigh@i42.co.uk> - 2012-01-01 18:57 +0000
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question jgk@panix.com (Joe keane) - 2012-01-01 22:04 +0000
        Re: C++ Memory Management Question Carlo Milanesi <carlo.nospam.milanesi@libero.it> - 2012-01-02 00:37 +0100
          Re: C++ Memory Management Question yatremblay@bel1lin202.(none) (Yannick Tremblay) - 2012-01-09 17:41 +0000
            Re: C++ Memory Management Question Carlo Milanesi <carlo.milanesi@libero.it> - 2012-01-13 08:14 -0800
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2012-01-01 18:05 +0000
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> - 2011-12-31 07:25 -0800
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Torsten Mueller <dev-null@shared-files.de> - 2011-12-31 16:41 +0100
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-01-01 09:16 +0000
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Datesfat Chicks <datesfat.chicks@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 16:48 -0500
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-01-03 00:02 -0800
        Re: C++ Memory Management Question Datesfat Chicks <datesfat.chicks@gmail.com> - 2012-01-03 12:53 -0500
          Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-01-03 19:46 +0000
          Re: C++ Memory Management Question Goran <goran.pusic@gmail.com> - 2012-01-04 00:11 -0800
            Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-01-04 09:30 +0000
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2012-01-04 19:28 +0000
      Re: C++ Memory Management Question Nobody <nobody@nowhere.com> - 2012-01-04 22:09 +0000
        Re: C++ Memory Management Question Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2012-01-05 11:43 +0000
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Christian Gollwitzer <auriocus@gmx.de> - 2012-01-01 18:13 +0100
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question "io_x" <a@b.c.invalid> - 2012-01-01 20:11 +0100
    Re: C++ Memory Management Question Datesfat Chicks <datesfat.chicks@gmail.com> - 2012-01-02 16:51 -0500
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question Simon Quinn <sq@nospam.com> - 2012-01-05 07:54 +0000
  Re: C++ Memory Management Question darylew@gmail.com - 2012-01-10 10:19 -0800

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