Provided by:
freebsd-manpages_6.2-1_all 
NAME
malloc, MALLOC, free, FREE, realloc, reallocf, MALLOC_DEFINE,
MALLOC_DECLARE - kernel memory management routines
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/malloc.h>
void *
malloc(unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags);
MALLOC(space, cast, unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type,
int flags);
void
free(void *addr, struct malloc_type *type);
FREE(void *addr, struct malloc_type *type);
void *
realloc(void *addr, unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type,
int flags);
void *
reallocf(void *addr, unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type,
int flags);
MALLOC_DECLARE(type);
#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/malloc.h>
#include <sys/kernel.h>
MALLOC_DEFINE(type, shortdesc, longdesc);
DESCRIPTION
The malloc() function allocates uninitialized memory in kernel address
space for an object whose size is specified by size.
The free() function releases memory at address addr that was previously
allocated by malloc() for re-use. The memory is not zeroed. If addr is
NULL, then free() does nothing.
The realloc() function changes the size of the previously allocated mem‐
ory referenced by addr to size bytes. The contents of the memory are
unchanged up to the lesser of the new and old sizes. Note that the
returned value may differ from addr. If the requested memory cannot be
allocated, NULL is returned and the memory referenced by addr is valid
and unchanged. If addr is NULL, the realloc() function behaves identi‐
cally to malloc() for the specified size.
The reallocf() function is identical to realloc() except that it will
free the passed pointer when the requested memory cannot be allocated.
The MALLOC() macro variant is functionally equivalent to
(space) = (cast)malloc((u_long)(size), type, flags)
and the FREE() macro variant is equivalent to
free((addr), type)
Unlike its standard C library counterpart (malloc(3)), the kernel version
takes two more arguments. The flags argument further qualifies
malloc()’s operational characteristics as follows:
M_ZERO Causes the allocated memory to be set to all zeros.
M_NOWAIT
Causes malloc(), realloc(), and reallocf() to return NULL if the
request cannot be immediately fulfilled due to resource shortage.
Note that M_NOWAIT is required when running in an interrupt con‐
text.
M_WAITOK
Indicates that it is OK to wait for resources. If the request
cannot be immediately fulfilled, the current process is put to
sleep to wait for resources to be released by other processes.
The malloc(), realloc(), and reallocf() functions cannot return
NULL if M_WAITOK is specified.
M_USE_RESERVE
Indicates that the system can dig into its reserve in order to
obtain the requested memory. This option used to be called
M_KERNEL but has been renamed to something more obvious. This
option has been deprecated and is slowly being removed from the
kernel, and so should not be used with any new programming.
Exactly one of either M_WAITOK or M_NOWAIT must be specified.
The type argument is used to perform statistics on memory usage, and for
basic sanity checks. It can be used to identify multiple allocations.
The statistics can be examined by ‘vmstat -m’.
A type is defined using struct malloc_type via the MALLOC_DECLARE() and
MALLOC_DEFINE() macros.
/* sys/something/foo_extern.h */
MALLOC_DECLARE(M_FOOBUF);
/* sys/something/foo_main.c */
MALLOC_DEFINE(M_FOOBUF, "foobuffers", "Buffers to foo data into the ether");
/* sys/something/foo_subr.c */
...
MALLOC(buf, struct foo_buf *, sizeof *buf, M_FOOBUF, M_NOWAIT);
In order to use MALLOC_DEFINE(), one must include #include <sys/param.h>
(instead of and
The memory allocator allocates memory in chunks that have size a power of
two for requests up to the size of a page of memory. For larger
requests, one or more pages is allocated. While it should not be relied
upon, this information may be useful for optimizing the efficiency of
memory use.
Programmers should be careful not to confuse the malloc flags M_NOWAIT
and M_WAITOK with the mbuf(9) flags M_DONTWAIT and M_TRYWAIT.
CONTEXT
malloc(), realloc() and reallocf() may not be called from fast interrupts
handlers. When called from threaded interrupts, flags must contain
M_NOWAIT.
malloc(), realloc() and reallocf() may sleep when called with M_WAITOK.
free() never sleeps.
Any calls to malloc() (even with M_NOWAIT) or free() when holding a
vnode(9) interlock, will cause a LOR (Lock Order Reversal) due to the
intertwining of VM Objects and Vnodes.
The malloc(), realloc(), and reallocf() functions return a kernel virtual
address that is suitably aligned for storage of any type of object, or
NULL if the request could not be satisfied (implying that M_NOWAIT was
set).
DIAGNOSTICS
A kernel compiled with the INVARIANTS configuration option attempts to
detect memory corruption caused by such things as writing outside the
allocated area and imbalanced calls to the malloc() and free() functions.
Failing consistency checks will cause a panic or a system console mes‐
sage.
vmstat(8), contigmalloc(9), memguard(9), vnode(9)