Malloc Information view

View a process's memory allocator statistics

Description:

These views in the QNX System Information perspective are especially useful for examining the memory of your target system:

• Malloc Information view (for heap usage and other details)
• Memory Information view (for examining virtual address space)

Malloc Information view

The Malloc Information view displays statistical information from the general-purpose, process-level memory allocator:

When you select a process in the Target Navigator view, the IDE queries the target system and retrieves the allocator's statistics. The IDE gathers statistics for the number of bytes that are allocated, in use, and overhead.

The view includes the following panes:

• Total Heap
• Calls Made
• Core Requests
• Distribution
• History

Total Heap

The Total Heap pane shows your total heap memory, which is the sum of the following states of memory:

• used (dark blue)
• overhead (turquoise)
• free (lavender)

The bar chart shows the relative size of each.

Calls Made

The Calls Made pane shows the number of times a process has allocated, freed, or reallocated memory by calling malloc(), free(), and realloc() functions. (See the Neutrino Library Reference.)

Core Requests

The Core Requests pane displays the number of allocations that the system allocator automatically made to accommodate the needs of the program you selected in the Target Navigator view. The system allocator typically dispenses memory in increments of 4KB (one page).

The number of allocations never equals the number of deallocations, because when the program starts, it allocates memory that isn't released until it terminates.

Distribution

The Distribution pane shows a distribution of the memory allocation sizes. The pane includes the following columns:

Byte Range

The size range of the memory blocks.

Total mallocs and frees

The total number of calls that effectively allocate or free memory. For example, if your program reallocated memory from 10 bytes to 20 bytes, both the free count for the 0-16 byte range and the malloc count for the 17-32 range would increment.

Allocated

The remaining number of allocated blocks. The value is equal to the number of allocations minus the number of deallocations.

% Returned

The ratio of freed blocks to allocated blocks, expressed as a percentage. The value is calculated as the number of deallocations divided by the number of allocations.

Usage (min/max)

The calculated minimum and maximum memory usage for a byte range. The values are calculated by multiplying the number of allocated blocks by the minimum and maximum sizes of the range. For example, if the 65-128 byte range had two blocks allocated, the usage would be 130/160. You should use these values for estimated memory usage only; the actual memory usage usually lies somewhere in between.

History

The History pane shows a chronology of the heap usage shown in the Total Heap pane. The pane automatically rescales as the selected process increases its total heap.

The History pane updates the data every second, with a granularity of 1KB. Thus, two 512-byte allocations made over several seconds trigger one update.

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You can choose to hide or display the Distribution and History panes: In the Malloc Information view's title bar, click the dropdown menu button (), followed by Show. Click the pane you want displayed.

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