Dynamic Memory Debugging

The Sun WorkShop package of tools is useful in finding and eliminating errors in dynamic memory use. The Run Time Checking (RTC) facility of the Sun WorkShop uses the functions that are described in this section to find errors in dynamic memory use.

RTC does not require the program be compiled using -g in order to find all errors. However, symbolic (-g) information is sometimes needed to guarantee the correctness of certain errors, particularly errors that are read from uninitialized memory. For this reason, certain errors are suppressed if no symbolic information is available. These errors are rui for a.out and rui + aib + air for shared libraries. This behavior can be changed by using suppress and unsuppress.

check -access

The -access option turns on access checking. RTC reports the following errors:

baf

Bad free

duf

Duplicate free

maf

Misaligned free

mar

Misaligned read

maw

Misaligned write

oom

Out of memory

rua

Read from unallocated memory

rui

Read from uninitialized memory

rwo

Write to read-only memory

wua

Write to unallocated memory

The default behavior is to stop the process after detecting each access error. This behavior can be changed using the rtc_auto_continue dbxenv variable. When set to on, RTC logs access errors to a file. The file name is determined by the value of the rtc_error_log_file_name dbxenv variable. By default, each unique access error is only reported the first time the error happens. Change this behavior using the rtc_auto_suppress dbxenv variable. The default setting of this variable is on.

check -leaks [-frames n] [-match m]

The -leaks option turns on leak checking. RTC reports the following errors:

aib

Possible memory leak – The only pointer points in the middle of the block

air

Possible memory leak – The pointer to the block exists only in register

mel

Memory leak – No pointers to the block

With leak checking turned on, you get an automatic leak report when the program exits. All leaks, including potential leaks, are reported at that time. By default, a non-verbose report is generated. This default is controlled by the dbxenv rtc_mel_at_exit. However, you can ask for a leak report at any time.

The -frames n variable displays up to n distinct stack frames when reporting leaks. The -match m variable combines leaks. If the call stack at the time of allocation for two or more leaks matches m frames, these leaks are reported in a single combined leak report. The default value of n is the larger of 8 or the value of m. The maximum value of n is 16. The default value of m is 2.

check -memuse [-frames n] [-match m]

The -memuse option turns on memory use (memuse) checking. Using check -memuse implies using check -leaks. In addition to a leak report at program exit, you also get a report listing blocks in use, biu. By default, a non-verbose report on blocks in use is generated. This default is controlled by the dbxenv rtc_biu_at_exit. At any time during program execution, you can see where the memory in your program has been allocated.

The -frames n and -match m variables function as described in the following section.

check -all [-frames n] [-match m]

Equivalent to check -access; check -memuse [-frames n] [-match m]. The value of rtc_biu_at_exit dbxenv variable is not changed with check -all. So, by default, no memory use report is generated at exit.

check [funcs] [files] [loadobjects]

Equivalent to check -all; suppress all; unsuppress all in funcs files loadobjects. You can use this option to focus RTC on places of interest.