pmpa - Phil's Memory Pool Allocator

C memory allocator based on pools, thread safe.

Features

• Simple & Fast
• Less than 200 lines of C code
• Pool-based allocation
• Automatically defragments the pool in a deterministic fashion, without the need for garbage collection
• Lockless, thread-safe design
• Each thread gets its own memory pool
• No limit on memory pool or allocation sizes
• Implements all C memory allocation functions
• Optional drop-in mode so that you don't have to change your code
• Comprehensive benchmark & test suites
• Permissively licensed: Dual-licensed under the Public Domain and the Unlicense
• Choose the one that you prefer

How to Use

Regular Mode

1. Compile pmpa.c into your program.
2. Include pmpa.h in your program.
3. Define ARCH_64BIT or ARCH_32BIT, depending on your architecture.
4. Use pmpa_init_thread() in each thread that will use pmpa, before you allocate memory with pmpa.

• Example: If your program is going to allocate a maximum of 64kb of memory, use pmpa_init_thread(65536).
• The actual allocatable memory will be slightly less than what's specified, due to pmpa using some memory for pool accounting.

5. Use the pmpa_* versions of the C memory allocation functions.

• Example: Use pmpa_malloc() where you would use malloc(), etc.

6. Use pmpa_uninit_thread() in each thread when the thread is done using pmpa.

Drop-in Mode

1. Follow all of the steps in Regular Mode until step 5.
2. Define PMPA_OVERRIDE_C_MEMORY_FUNCTIONS in your program

• This define causes pmpa to override the standard C memory allocation functions with the pmpa_* ones.

3. Follow step 6.