README.md

Thread-Safe Memory Allocation

The program implements thread-safe memory management in C. The user program can opt for coarse-grained and and fine-grained versions.

Requirements

C99

Installation

Include my-malloc.h in the user program.

#include "myMalloc.h"

Compile and run the program. This is a sample Makefile:

main: main.o myMalloc.o myMalloc-helper.o
	gcc -o main main.o myMalloc.o myMalloc-helper.o -lpthread

main.o:	driver.c myMalloc.h
	gcc -c driver.c

myMalloc.o: myMalloc.c myMalloc.h myMalloc-helper.h
	gcc -c myMalloc.c

myMalloc-helper.o: myMalloc-helper.c myMalloc-helper.h
	gcc -c myMalloc-helper.c

clean:
	rm -f *.o main

API

int my_init(int num_threads, int flag)

Using my_init API, the user program specifies the number of threads that will use the memory pool and the version. There are two versions that the user can use coarse-grain and fine grain. Any user program must call my_init before creating threads or invoking my_malloc or my_free.

Input

num_threads: number of cores

flag: version to use

Output

0 if normal. 1 if fails.

void *my_malloc(int size)

my_malloc allocates a chunk of memory.

Input

size: number of bits to be allocated from the shared pool of memory

Output

pointer to the allocated memory chunk

void my_free(void *ptr)

my_free frees the allocated memory and returns it to the memory pool.

Input

ptr: pointer to the chunk that needs to be deallocated