Made the explanation more accurate; trimmed trailing whitespace; fixed
a typo.
This commit is contained in:
parent
74979664d0
commit
b8b20e22bc
|
@ -1,24 +1,26 @@
|
|||
This document describes some caveats about the use of Valgrind with
|
||||
Python. Valgrind is used periodically by Python developers to try
|
||||
Python. Valgrind is used periodically by Python developers to try
|
||||
to ensure there are no memory leaks or invalid memory reads/writes.
|
||||
|
||||
If you don't want to read about the details of using Valgrind, there
|
||||
are still two things you must do to suppress the warnings. First,
|
||||
are still two things you must do to suppress the warnings. First,
|
||||
you must use a suppressions file. One is supplied in
|
||||
Misc/valgrind-python.supp. Second, you must do one of the following:
|
||||
|
||||
* Uncomment Py_USING_MEMORY_DEBUGGER in Objects/obmalloc.c,
|
||||
then rebuild Python
|
||||
* Uncomment the lines in Misc/valgrind-python.supp that
|
||||
then rebuild Python
|
||||
* Uncomment the lines in Misc/valgrind-python.supp that
|
||||
suppress the warnings for PyObject_Free and PyObject_Realloc
|
||||
|
||||
Details:
|
||||
--------
|
||||
Python uses its own allocation scheme on top of malloc called PyMalloc.
|
||||
Valgrind my show some unexpected results when PyMalloc is used.
|
||||
Python uses its own small-object allocation scheme on top of malloc,
|
||||
called PyMalloc.
|
||||
|
||||
Valgrind may show some unexpected results when PyMalloc is used.
|
||||
Starting with Python 2.3, PyMalloc is used by default. You can disable
|
||||
PyMalloc when configuring python by adding the --without-pymalloc option.
|
||||
If you disable PyMalloc, most of the information in this document and
|
||||
If you disable PyMalloc, most of the information in this document and
|
||||
the supplied suppressions file will not be useful.
|
||||
|
||||
If you use valgrind on a default build of Python, you will see
|
||||
|
@ -32,18 +34,19 @@ These are expected and not a problem. Tim Peters explains
|
|||
the situation:
|
||||
|
||||
PyMalloc needs to know whether an arbitrary address is one
|
||||
that's managed by it, or is managed by the system malloc.
|
||||
that's managed by it, or is managed by the system malloc.
|
||||
The current scheme allows this to be determined in constant
|
||||
time, regardless of how many memory areas are under pymalloc's
|
||||
control.
|
||||
|
||||
The memory pymalloc manages itself is in one or more "arenas",
|
||||
each a large contiguous memory area obtained from malloc.
|
||||
The base address of each arena is saved by pymalloc
|
||||
in a vector, and a field at the start of each arena contains
|
||||
the index of that arena's base address in that vector.
|
||||
each a large contiguous memory area obtained from malloc.
|
||||
The base address of each arena is saved by pymalloc
|
||||
in a vector. Each arena is carved into "pools", and a field at
|
||||
the start of each pool contains the index of that pool's arena's
|
||||
base address in that vector.
|
||||
|
||||
Given an arbitrary address, pymalloc computes the arena base
|
||||
Given an arbitrary address, pymalloc computes the pool base
|
||||
address corresponding to it, then looks at "the index" stored
|
||||
near there. If the index read up is out of bounds for the
|
||||
vector of arena base addresses pymalloc maintains, then
|
||||
|
@ -55,14 +58,17 @@ the situation:
|
|||
|
||||
to
|
||||
|
||||
the computed arena address
|
||||
the arbitrary address pymalloc is investigating
|
||||
|
||||
pymalloc controls this arena if and only if they're equal.
|
||||
pymalloc controls this arbitrary address if and only if it lies
|
||||
in the arena the address's pool's index claims it lies in.
|
||||
|
||||
It doesn't matter whether the memory pymalloc reads up ("the
|
||||
index") is initialized. If it's not initialized, then
|
||||
whatever trash gets read up will lead pymalloc to conclude
|
||||
(correctly) that the address isn't controlled by it.
|
||||
(correctly) that the address isn't controlled by it, either
|
||||
because the index is out of bounds, or the index is in bounds
|
||||
but the arena it represents doesn't contain the address.
|
||||
|
||||
This determination has to be made on every call to one of
|
||||
pymalloc's free/realloc entry points, so its speed is critical
|
||||
|
|
Loading…
Reference in New Issue