NAME

       erl_malloc - Memory allocation functions.

DESCRIPTION

   Note:
       The support for VxWorks is deprecated as of OTP 22, and will be removed in OTP 23.

   Note:
       The  old legacy erl_interface library (functions with prefix erl_) is deprecated as of OTP
       22, and will be removed in OTP 23. This does not apply to the ei library.  Reasonably  new
       gcc  compilers will issue deprecation warnings. In order to disable these warnings, define
       the macro EI_NO_DEPR_WARN.

       This module provides functions for allocating and deallocating memory.

EXPORTS

       ETERM *erl_alloc_eterm(etype)

              Types:

                 unsigned char etype;

              Allocates an (ETERM) structure.

              Specify etype as one of the following constants:

                * ERL_INTEGER

                * ERL_U_INTEGER (unsigned integer)

                * ERL_ATOM

                * ERL_PID (Erlang process identifier)

                * ERL_PORT

                * ERL_REF (Erlang reference)

                * ERL_LIST

                * ERL_EMPTY_LIST

                * ERL_TUPLE

                * ERL_BINARY

                * ERL_FLOAT

                * ERL_VARIABLE

                * ERL_SMALL_BIG (bignum)

                * ERL_U_SMALL_BIG (bignum)

              ERL_SMALL_BIG and ERL_U_SMALL_BIG  are  for  creating  Erlang  bignums,  which  can
              contain  integers  of  any  size.  The  size  of  an  integer in Erlang is machine-
              dependent, but any integer > 2^28 requires a bignum.

       void erl_eterm_release(void)

              Clears  the  freelist,  where  blocks  are  placed  when  they  are   released   by
              erl_free_term() and erl_free_compound().

       void erl_eterm_statistics(allocated, freed)

              Types:

                 long *allocated;
                 long *freed;

              Reports term allocation statistics.

              allocated  and freed are initialized to contain information about the fix-allocator
              used to allocate ETERM components.

                * allocated is the number of blocks currently allocated to ETERM objects.

                * freed is the length of the freelist, where blocks  are  placed  when  they  are
                  released by erl_free_term() and erl_free_compound().

       void erl_free(ptr)

              Types:

                 void *ptr;

              Calls the standard free() function.

       void erl_free_array(array, size)

              Types:

                 ETERM **array;
                 int size;

              Frees an array of Erlang terms.

                * array is an array of ETERM* objects.

                * size is the number of terms in the array.

       void erl_free_compound(t)

              Types:

                 ETERM *t;

              Normally  it  is  the programmer's responsibility to free each Erlang term that has
              been returned from any of the Erl_Interface functions.  However,  as  many  of  the
              functions  that  build  new  Erlang terms in fact share objects with other existing
              terms, it can be difficult for the programmer to  maintain  pointers  to  all  such
              terms to free them individually.

              erl_free_compound()  recursively  frees  all  of  the  subterms  associated  with a
              specified Erlang term, regardless of whether we are still holding pointers  to  the
              subterms.

              For an example, see section Building Terms and Patterns in the User's Guide.

       void erl_free_term(t)

              Types:

                 ETERM *t;

              Frees an Erlang term.

       void erl_malloc(size)

              Types:

                 long size;

              Calls the standard malloc() function.