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1 <!DOCTYPE HTML>
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2 <HEAD>
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3 <TITLE>Garbage Collector Interface</TITLE>
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4 </HEAD>
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5 <BODY>
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6 <H1>C Interface</h1>
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7 On many platforms, a single-threaded garbage collector library can be built
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8 to act as a plug-in malloc replacement. (Build with -DREDIRECT_MALLOC=GC_malloc
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9 -DIGNORE_FREE.) This is often the best way to deal with third-party libraries
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10 which leak or prematurely free objects. -DREDIRECT_MALLOC is intended
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11 primarily as an easy way to adapt old code, not for new development.
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12 <P>
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13 New code should use the interface discussed below.
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14 <P>
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15 Code must be linked against the GC library. On most UNIX platforms,
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16 this will be gc.a.
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17 <P>
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18 The following describes the standard C interface to the garbage collector.
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19 It is not a complete definition of the interface. It describes only the
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20 most commonly used functionality, approximately in decreasing order of
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21 frequency of use. The description assumes an ANSI C compiler.
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22 The full interface is described in
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23 <A HREF="http://hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gch.txt">gc.h</a>
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24 or <TT>gc.h</tt> in the distribution.
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25 <P>
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26 Clients should include gc.h.
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27 <P>
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28 In the case of multithreaded code,
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29 gc.h should be included after the threads header file, and
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30 after defining the appropriate GC_XXXX_THREADS macro.
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31 (For 6.2alpha4 and later, simply defining GC_THREADS should suffice.)
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32 Gc.h must be included
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33 in files that use either GC or threads primitives, since threads primitives
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34 will be redefined to cooperate with the GC on many platforms.
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35 <DL>
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36 <DT> <B>void * GC_MALLOC(size_t <I>nbytes</i>)</b>
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37 <DD>
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38 Allocates and clears <I>nbytes</i> of storage.
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39 Requires (amortized) time proportional to <I>nbytes</i>.
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40 The resulting object will be automatically deallocated when unreferenced.
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41 References from objects allocated with the system malloc are usually not
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42 considered by the collector. (See GC_MALLOC_UNCOLLECTABLE, however.)
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43 GC_MALLOC is a macro which invokes GC_malloc by default or, if GC_DEBUG
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44 is defined before gc.h is included, a debugging version that checks
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45 occasionally for overwrite errors, and the like.
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46 <DT> <B>void * GC_MALLOC_ATOMIC(size_t <I>nbytes</i>)</b>
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47 <DD>
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48 Allocates <I>nbytes</i> of storage.
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49 Requires (amortized) time proportional to <I>nbytes</i>.
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50 The resulting object will be automatically deallocated when unreferenced.
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51 The client promises that the resulting object will never contain any pointers.
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52 The memory is not cleared.
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53 This is the preferred way to allocate strings, floating point arrays,
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54 bitmaps, etc.
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55 More precise information about pointer locations can be communicated to the
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56 collector using the interface in
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57 <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gc_typedh.txt">gc_typed.h</a> in the distribution.
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58 <DT> <B>void * GC_MALLOC_UNCOLLECTABLE(size_t <I>nbytes</i>)</b>
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59 <DD>
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60 Identical to GC_MALLOC, except that the resulting object is not automatically
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61 deallocated. Unlike the system-provided malloc, the collector does
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62 scan the object for pointers to garbage-collectable memory, even if the
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63 block itself does not appear to be reachable. (Objects allocated in this way
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64 are effectively treated as roots by the collector.)
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65 <DT> <B> void * GC_REALLOC(void *old, size_t new_size) </b>
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66 <DD>
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67 Allocate a new object of the indicated size and copy (a prefix of) the
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68 old object into the new object. The old object is reused in place if
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69 convenient. If the original object was allocated with GC_malloc_atomic,
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70 the new object is subject to the same constraints. If it was allocated
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71 as an uncollectable object, then the new object is uncollectable, and
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72 the old object (if different) is deallocated.
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73 (Use GC_REALLOC with GC_MALLOC, etc.)
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74 <DT> <B> void GC_FREE(void *dead) </b>
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75 <DD>
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76 Explicitly deallocate an object. Typically not useful for small
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77 collectable objects. (Use GC_FREE with GC_MALLOC, etc.)
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78 <DT> <B> void * GC_MALLOC_IGNORE_OFF_PAGE(size_t <I>nbytes</i>) </b>
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79 <DD>
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80 <DT> <B> void * GC_MALLOC_ATOMIC_IGNORE_OFF_PAGE(size_t <I>nbytes</i>) </b>
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81 <DD>
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82 Analogous to GC_MALLOC and GC_MALLOC_ATOMIC, except that the client
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83 guarantees that as long
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84 as the resulting object is of use, a pointer is maintained to someplace
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85 inside the first 512 bytes of the object. This pointer should be declared
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86 volatile to avoid interference from compiler optimizations.
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87 (Other nonvolatile pointers to the object may exist as well.)
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88 This is the
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89 preferred way to allocate objects that are likely to be > 100KBytes in size.
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90 It greatly reduces the risk that such objects will be accidentally retained
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91 when they are no longer needed. Thus space usage may be significantly reduced.
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92 <DT> <B> void GC_gcollect(void) </b>
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93 <DD>
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94 Explicitly force a garbage collection.
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95 <DT> <B> void GC_enable_incremental(void) </b>
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96 <DD>
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97 Cause the garbage collector to perform a small amount of work
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98 every few invocations of GC_malloc or the like, instead of performing
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99 an entire collection at once. This is likely to increase total
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100 running time. It will improve response on a platform that either has
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101 suitable support in the garbage collector (Irix and most other Unix
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102 versions, win32 if the collector was suitably built) or if "stubborn"
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103 allocation is used (see <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gch.txt">gc.h</a>).
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104 On many platforms this interacts poorly with system calls
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105 that write to the garbage collected heap.
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106 <DT> <B> GC_warn_proc GC_set_warn_proc(GC_warn_proc p) </b>
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107 <DD>
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108 Replace the default procedure used by the collector to print warnings.
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109 The collector
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110 may otherwise write to sterr, most commonly because GC_malloc was used
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111 in a situation in which GC_malloc_ignore_off_page would have been more
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112 appropriate. See <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gch.txt">gc.h</a> for details.
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113 <DT> <B> void GC_register_finalizer(...) </b>
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114 <DD>
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115 Register a function to be called when an object becomes inaccessible.
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116 This is often useful as a backup method for releasing system resources
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117 (<I>e.g.</i> closing files) when the object referencing them becomes
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118 inaccessible.
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119 It is not an acceptable method to perform actions that must be performed
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120 in a timely fashion.
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121 See <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gch.txt">gc.h</a> for details of the interface.
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122 See <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/finalization.html">here</a> for a more detailed discussion
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123 of the design.
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124 <P>
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125 Note that an object may become inaccessible before client code is done
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126 operating on its fields. Suitable synchronization is usually required.
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127 See <A HREF="http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=604131.604153">here</a>
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128 or <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2002/HPL-2002-335.html">here</a>
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129 for details.
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130 </dl>
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131 <P>
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132 If you are concerned with multiprocessor performance and scalability,
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133 you should consider enabling and using thread local allocation (<I>e.g.</i>
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134 GC_LOCAL_MALLOC, see <TT>gc_local_alloc.h</tt>. If your platform
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135 supports it, you should build the collector with parallel marking support
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136 (-DPARALLEL_MARK, or --enable-parallel-mark).
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137 <P>
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138 If the collector is used in an environment in which pointer location
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139 information for heap objects is easily available, this can be passed on
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140 to the colllector using the interfaces in either <TT>gc_typed.h</tt>
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141 or <TT>gc_gcj.h</tt>.
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142 <P>
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143 The collector distribution also includes a <B>string package</b> that takes
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144 advantage of the collector. For details see
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145 <A HREF="http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/cordh.txt">cord.h</a>
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146
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147 <H1>C++ Interface</h1>
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148 There are three distinct ways to use the collector from C++:
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149 <DL>
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150 <DT> <B> STL allocators </b>
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151 <DD>
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152 Users of the <A HREF="http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl">SGI extended STL</a>
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153 can include <TT>new_gc_alloc.h</tt> before including
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154 STL header files.
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155 (<TT>gc_alloc.h</tt> corresponds to now obsolete versions of the
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156 SGI STL.)
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157 This defines SGI-style allocators
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158 <UL>
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159 <LI> alloc
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160 <LI> single_client_alloc
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161 <LI> gc_alloc
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162 <LI> single_client_gc_alloc
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163 </ul>
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164 which may be used either directly to allocate memory or to instantiate
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165 container templates. The first two allocate uncollectable but traced
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166 memory, while the second two allocate collectable memory.
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167 The single_client versions are not safe for concurrent access by
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168 multiple threads, but are faster.
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169 <P>
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170 For an example, click <A HREF="http://hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_alloc_exC.txt">here</a>.
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171 <P>
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172 Recent versions of the collector also include a more standard-conforming
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173 allocator implemention in <TT>gc_allocator.h</tt>. It defines
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174 <UL>
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175 <LI> traceable_allocator
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176 <LI> gc_allocator
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177 </ul>
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178 Again the former allocates uncollectable but traced memory.
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179 This should work with any fully standard-conforming C++ compiler.
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180 <DT> <B> Class inheritance based interface </b>
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181 <DD>
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182 Users may include gc_cpp.h and then cause members of certain classes to
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183 be allocated in garbage collectable memory by inheriting from class gc.
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184 For details see <A HREF="http://hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gc_cpph.txt">gc_cpp.h</a>.
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185 <DT> <B> C interface </b>
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186 <DD>
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187 It is also possible to use the C interface from
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188 <A HREF="http://hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc/gc_source/gch.txt">gc.h</a> directly.
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189 On platforms which use malloc to implement ::new, it should usually be possible
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190 to use a version of the collector that has been compiled as a malloc
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191 replacement. It is also possible to replace ::new and other allocation
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192 functions suitably.
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193 <P>
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194 Note that user-implemented small-block allocation often works poorly with
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195 an underlying garbage-collected large block allocator, since the collector
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196 has to view all objects accessible from the user's free list as reachable.
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197 This is likely to cause problems if GC_malloc is used with something like
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198 the original HP version of STL.
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199 This approach works with the SGI versions of the STL only if the
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200 <TT>malloc_alloc</tt> allocator is used.
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201 </dl>
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202 </body>
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203 </html>
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