NAME

       mem_open,  mem_check,  mem_alloc,  mem_realloc,  mem_free,  mem_close  - memory allocation
       routines for debugging

LIBRARIES

       Debug Library (-ldebug)

SYNOPSIS

       #include <debug/memory.h>

       void mem_open(void (*fail)(const char *fmt, ...));
       void mem_check(void);
       void *mem_alloc(size_t size);
       void *mem_realloc(void *ptr, size_t size);
       void mem_free(void *ptr);
       void mem_close(void);

DESCRIPTION

       mem_open() initializes the memory debugging system. It should be called before any of  the
       other  routines.  You  can  specify  a  callback  function which should be called whenever
       something bad happens, or NULL in which case the default error handler will be  used.  The
       default error handler logs error messages using the debug logging routines and exit.

       mem_check()  check  all  the  allocated  memory areas. This is called every time memory is
       allocated or freed. You can also call it anytime you think memory might be corrupted.

       mem_alloc() allocates size bytes and returns a pointer to the allocated memory. The memory
       is not cleared.

       mem_realloc()  changes  the  size of the memory block pointed to by ptr to size bytes. The
       contents will be unchanged to the minimum of the old and new sizes; newly allocated memory
       will  be uninitialized. If ptr is NULL, the call is equivalent to mem_alloc(size); if size
       is equal to zero, the call is equivalent to mem_free(ptr). Unless ptr  is  NULL,  it  must
       have been returned by an earlier call to mem_alloc() or mem_realloc().

       mem_free()  frees  the  memory space pointed to by ptr, which must have been returned by a
       previous call to mem_alloc() or mem_realloc(). If ptr is NULL, no operation is performed.

       mem_close() checks for leaks and possible memory corruptions.

RETURN VALUE

       For mem_alloc(), the value returned is  a  pointer  to  the  allocated  memory,  which  is
       suitably aligned for any kind of variable, or NULL if the request fails.

       mem_realloc()  returns  a pointer to the newly allocated memory, which is suitably aligned
       for any kind of variable and may be different from ptr, or NULL if the request fails or if
       size  was  equal to 0. If mem_realloc() fails the original block is left untouched - it is
       not freed or moved.

       All other functions returns no value.

NOTES

       If the default fail callback is used or  if  this  routines  are  combined  with  the  log
       routines,  care  should  be taken to call open and close functions in the right order. The
       correct order is as follows:

              mem_open (NULL);
              log_open (NULL,LOG_NORMAL,LOG_HAVE_COLORS | LOG_PRINT_FUNCTION);
              atexit (mem_close);
              atexit (log_close);

       Of course, atexit(3) should only be used if the program will not forked.

       None of the libdebug routines are thread-safe. I'm not planning to change this either! For
       more information, please see http://threading.2038bug.com/

SEE ALSO

       log_open(3), atexit(3)

AUTHOR

       Written by Abraham vd Merwe <abz@blio.com>