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man:pvalloc

POSIX_MEMALIGN(3) Linux Programmer's Manual POSIX_MEMALIGN(3)

NAME

     posix_memalign,  aligned_alloc,  memalign,  valloc,  pvalloc - allocate
     aligned memory

SYNOPSIS

     #include <stdlib.h>
     int posix_memalign(void **memptr, size_t alignment, size_t size);
     void *aligned_alloc(size_t alignment, size_t size);
     void *valloc(size_t size);
     #include <malloc.h>
     void *memalign(size_t alignment, size_t size);
     void *pvalloc(size_t size);
 Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
     posix_memalign(): _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L
     aligned_alloc(): _ISOC11_SOURCE
     valloc():
         Since glibc 2.12:
             (_XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500) && !(_POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200112L)
                 || /* Glibc since 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE
                 || /* Glibc versions <= 2.19: */ _SVID_SOURCE || _BSD_SOURCE
         Before glibc 2.12:
             _BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500
             (The (nonstandard) header file <malloc.h> also exposes the dec-
             laration of valloc(); no feature test macros are required.)

DESCRIPTION

     The  function  posix_memalign()  allocates  size  bytes  and places the
     address of the allocated memory in *memptr.  The address of  the  allo-
     cated  memory will be a multiple of alignment, which must be a power of
     two and a multiple of sizeof(void *).  If size is  0,  then  the  value
     placed  in  *memptr  is either NULL, or a unique pointer value that can
     later be successfully passed to free(3).
     The obsolete function memalign() allocates size  bytes  and  returns  a
     pointer to the allocated memory.  The memory address will be a multiple
     of alignment, which must be a power of two.
     The function aligned_alloc() is the same as memalign(), except for  the
     added restriction that size should be a multiple of alignment.
     The  obsolete  function  valloc()  allocates  size  bytes and returns a
     pointer to the allocated memory.  The memory address will be a multiple
     of  the  page  size.   It  is  equivalent to memalign(sysconf(_SC_PAGE-
     SIZE),size).
     The obsolete function pvalloc() is similar to valloc(), but rounds  the
     size of the allocation up to the next multiple of the system page size.
     For all of these functions, the memory is not zeroed.

RETURN VALUE

     aligned_alloc(), memalign(), valloc(), and pvalloc() return  a  pointer
     to the allocated memory, or NULL if the request fails.
     posix_memalign()  returns  zero  on success, or one of the error values
     listed in the next section on failure.  The value of errno is not  set.
     On  Linux  (and other systems), posix_memalign() does not modify memptr
     on failure.  A requirement standardizing this  behavior  was  added  in
     POSIX.1-2016.

ERRORS

     EINVAL The alignment argument was not a power of two, or was not a mul-
            tiple of sizeof(void *).
     ENOMEM There was insufficient memory to fulfill the allocation request.

VERSIONS

     The  functions  memalign(), valloc(), and pvalloc() have been available
     in all Linux libc libraries.
     The function aligned_alloc() was added to glibc in version 2.16.
     The function posix_memalign() is available since glibc 2.1.91.

ATTRIBUTES

     For  an  explanation  of  the  terms  used   in   this   section,   see
     attributes(7).
     allbox; lb lb lb l l l.  Interface Attribute Value T{ aligned_alloc(),
     memalign(),
     posix_memalign() T}   Thread safety  MT-Safe T{ valloc(),
     pvalloc() T}   Thread safety  MT-Unsafe init

CONFORMING TO

     The  function  valloc()  appeared in 3.0BSD.  It is documented as being
     obsolete in 4.3BSD, and as legacy in SUSv2.   It  does  not  appear  in
     POSIX.1.
     The function pvalloc() is a GNU extension.
     The function memalign() appears in SunOS 4.1.3 but not in 4.4BSD.
     The  function  posix_memalign() comes from POSIX.1d and is specified in
     POSIX.1-2001 and POSIX.1-2008.
     The function aligned_alloc() is specified in the C11 standard.
 Headers
     Everybody agrees that posix_memalign() is declared in <stdlib.h>.
     On some systems memalign() is declared in <stdlib.h> instead  of  <mal-
     loc.h>.
     According  to  SUSv2,  valloc() is declared in <stdlib.h>.  Libc4,5 and
     glibc declare it in <malloc.h>, and also in <stdlib.h> if suitable fea-
     ture test macros are defined (see above).

NOTES

     On  many  systems  there  are  alignment  restrictions, for example, on
     buffers used for direct block device I/O.  POSIX  specifies  the  path-
     conf(path,_PC_REC_XFER_ALIGN) call that tells what alignment is needed.
     Now one can use posix_memalign() to satisfy this requirement.
     posix_memalign()  verifies  that  alignment  matches  the  requirements
     detailed  above.   memalign() may not check that the alignment argument
     is correct.
     POSIX requires that memory obtained from posix_memalign() can be  freed
     using free(3).  Some systems provide no way to reclaim memory allocated
     with memalign() or valloc() (because one can pass  to  free(3)  only  a
     pointer  obtained  from malloc(3), while, for example, memalign() would
     call malloc(3) and then align the obtained value).  The glibc implemen-
     tation  allows  memory  obtained  from  any  of  these  functions to be
     reclaimed with free(3).
     The glibc malloc(3) always returns 8-byte aligned memory addresses,  so
     these functions are needed only if you require larger alignment values.

SEE ALSO

     brk(2), getpagesize(2), free(3), malloc(3)

COLOPHON

     This page is part of release 4.16 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
     description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
     latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
     https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

GNU 2017-09-15 POSIX_MEMALIGN(3)

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