2 * Naive Garbage Collector implementation.
4 * This module implements a Naive Garbage Collector. The idea behind this
5 * implementation is to document all the bookkeeping and considerations that
6 * have to be taken in order to implement a garbage collector for D.
8 * The garbage collector algorithm itself is extremely simple to make it
9 * easier to focus on the specifics of D. A completely naive mark and sweep
10 * algorithm is used, with a recursive mark phase. The code is extremely
11 * inefficient in order to keep it clean, and easy to read and understand.
13 * The implementation is split in several modules to ease the reading even
14 * more. All architecture/compiler specific code is done in the arch module,
15 * in order to avoid confusing version statements all over the places. The
16 * cell module has all the code related to the memory cells header. dynarray
17 * is another support module which holds the implementation of a simple
18 * dynamic array used to store root pointers and ranges. The list module holds
19 * a simple singly linked list (of cells) implementation to store the live and
20 * free lists. Finally, the iface module is the one with the C interface to
21 * comply with the Tango/Druntime GC specification.
23 * Copyright: Public Domain
24 * License: Public Domain
25 * Authors: Leandro Lucarella <llucax@gmail.com>
33 import gc.cell: Cell, BlkAttr, op_apply_ptr_range;
35 import gc.dynarray: DynArray;
36 import gc.arch: push_registers, pop_registers;
39 import cstring = tango.stdc.string;
40 import cstdlib = tango.stdc.stdlib;
45 * These are external functions coming from the D/Tango runtime. It's pretty
46 * intuitive what they do based on their names, for more details please
47 * refer to the functions documentation.
49 alias void delegate(void*, void*) mark_function;
50 extern (C) void onOutOfMemoryError();
51 extern (C) void rt_finalize(void* p, bool det=true);
52 extern (C) void rt_scanStaticData(mark_function mark);
53 extern (C) void thread_init();
54 extern (C) bool thread_needLock();
55 extern (C) void thread_suspendAll();
56 extern (C) void thread_resumeAll();
57 extern (C) void thread_scanAll(mark_function mark, void* stack_top=null);
60 * A range of memory that should be scanned for pointers.
62 * This object is iterable, yielding a pointer (void*) for each iteration.
67 /// Beginning of the memory range
70 /// End of the memory range
73 /// Iterate over a memory range applying dg to its elements
74 int opApply(int delegate(ref void*) dg)
76 return op_apply_ptr_range(this.from, this.to, dg);
86 * Information on a block of memory.
88 * This is part of the GC specification, it's used for the query() method.
90 * Standards: Tango/Druntime specs
95 /// Base address of the block
98 /// Size of the block (this is the total capacity, not the requested size)
102 * Memory block attributes
104 * See_Also: cell.BlkAttr for possible values
114 * This object contains the whole GC implementation. This is instantiated in
115 * the iface module as a global variable to provide the GC services.
117 * This implementation is designed to be extremely simple. The algorithm
118 * implemented is the most basic stop-the-world mark-sweep known.
120 * Memory is organized in cells. Each cell has a header where all the
121 * bookkeeping information is stored (like the mark bit, cell attributes,
122 * capacity, etc.), and the memory allocated for the requested memory itself.
124 * Two lists of cells are kept: free list and live list.
126 * The free list store cells known not to be referenced by the program. The
127 * live list stores cells that were referenced by the program at the end of
128 * the last collection (and just allocated cells).
130 * The root set is composed by several elements:
134 * $(LI Threads stack)
136 * $(LI Root pointers)
140 * Root pointers and ranges are user-defined.
145 * $(LI cell.Cell for the cell header layout)
146 * $(LI collect() for the main collection algorithm)
156 /// List of free cells.
159 /// List of live cells.
162 /// Single root pointers.
163 DynArray!(void*) root_pointers;
166 DynArray!(RootRange) root_ranges;
169 * "Flag" to indicate when the GC is disabled.
171 * This is a number because calls to enable() and disable() can be
172 * recursive. The number of calls to enable() should match the number of
173 * calls to disable(), though, if you want the GC to be effectively
179 * Remove the mark bit to all the live cells.
181 * This is done before starting the mark phase.
186 * $(LI collect() for the main collect algorithm)
187 * $(LI mark_all() for details on the marking phase)
192 foreach (cell; this.live_list)
197 * Mark all live data (pausing all threads)
199 * This methods start marking following all the known roots:
203 * $(LI Threads stack)
205 * $(LI Root pointers)
209 * Note that the registers are pushed into the stack to get scanned.
211 * This is the complete mark phase. The algorithm roughly does:
214 * $(LI Push registers into the stack)
215 * $(LI Pause all threads (but the current one, of course))
216 * $(LI Scan the static data)
217 * $(LI Scan all threads stack)
218 * $(LI Scan the root pointers and ranges)
219 * $(LI Resume all threads)
220 * $(LI Pop the registers from the stack)
227 * $(LI collect() for the main collect algorithm)
228 * $(LI mark() for details on the marking algorithm)
229 * $(LI sweep() for details on the sweep phase)
235 mixin (push_registers("stack_top"));
237 rt_scanStaticData(&mark_range);
238 thread_scanAll(&mark_range, stack_top);
239 foreach (ptr; this.root_pointers) {
242 foreach (range; this.root_ranges) {
243 this.mark_range(range.from, range.to);
246 mixin (pop_registers("stack_top"));
250 * Wrapper for mark() over a range, needed by some runtime functions.
252 * This function is used as a delegate to be passed to rt_scanStaticData()
253 * and thread_scanAll(), because they expect a function taking 2 pointers.
255 * This extremely inefficient on purpose. The goal of this implementation
256 * is simplicity, nor performance.
260 * $(LI mark() for details on the marking algorithm)
263 void mark_range(void* from, void* to)
265 foreach (ptr; RootRange(from, to))
270 * Mark all cells accessible from a pointer.
272 * This is the mark algorithm itself. It's recursive and dumb as a log. No
273 * care is taken in regards to stack overflows. This is the first example
276 * Marking is done with all threads stopped.
280 * $(LI collect() for the main collect algorithm)
281 * $(LI mark_all() for details on the marking phase)
282 * $(LI sweep() for details on the sweep phase)
287 Cell* cell = Cell.from_ptr(this.addrOf(ptr));
292 if (cell.has_pointers) {
300 * Move unreferenced live objects to the free list (calling finalizers).
302 * This is the sweep phase. It's very simple, it just searches the live
303 * list and move unmarked cells to the free list. This function is in
304 * charge of calling finalizers too, through the rt_finalize() runtime
307 * Sweeping is done concurrently with the mutator threads.
311 * $(LI collect() for the main collect algorithm)
312 * $(LI mark_all() for details on the marking phase)
317 foreach (cell; this.live_list) {
319 this.live_list.unlink(cell);
320 if (cell.has_finalizer)
321 rt_finalize(cell.ptr, false);
322 // Set the pattern to detect corruption
323 cstring.memset(cell.ptr, 0xca, cell.capacity);
324 this.free_list.link(cell);
335 * This initializes the thread library too, as requested by the
336 * Tango/Druntime specs.
347 * Finalization of unreferenced cells is not mandatory by the specs.
348 * This implementation guarantees that all finalizers are called, at least
349 * at program exit (i.e. at GC termination).
351 * The specs says that "objects referenced from the data segment never get
352 * collected by the GC". While this is true for this implementation,
353 * finalizers are called for objects referenced from the data segment at
356 * There could be some problems with this, in very strange situations. For
357 * a more complete discussion about the topic please take a look at the
358 * bug 2858: http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2858
362 foreach (cell; this.live_list)
363 if (cell.has_finalizer)
364 rt_finalize(cell.ptr, false);
365 // Let the OS free the memory on exit.
371 * When the GC is enabled, a collection is triggered when malloc() can't
372 * find room in the free list to fulfill the requested size.
374 * enable() and disable() can be called recursively. The number of calls
375 * to enable() should match the number of calls to disable(), though, if
376 * you want the GC to be effectively enabled again.
378 * See_Also: disable()
382 assert (this.disabled > 0);
394 assert (this.disabled > 0);
398 * Run a GC collection in order to find unreferenced objects.
400 * This is the simplest stop-the-world mark-sweep algorithm ever. It first
401 * removes the mark bit from all the live cells, then it marks the cells
402 * that are reachable through the root set (static data, stack, registers
403 * and custom root), and finally sweeps the live list looking for unmarked
406 * The world is stopped only for the mark phase.
410 * $(LI mark_all() for details on the marking phase)
411 * $(LI sweep() for details on the sweep phase)
422 * Minimize free space usage.
424 * This method returns to the OS memory that is not longer used by
425 * the program. Usually calling this method manually is not
426 * necessary, because unused cells are recycled for future
427 * allocations. But if there is some small part of the program that
428 * requires a lot of memory and it's known that it won't be used
429 * further, calling this can reduce the memory footprint of the program
430 * considerably (at the expense of some performance lost in future
433 * This implementation just return to the OS all the cells in the free
438 foreach (cell; this.free_list) {
439 this.free_list.unlink(cell);
445 * Get attributes associated to the cell pointed by ptr.
447 * Attributes is a bitmap that can have these values:
450 * $(LI 1: The object stored in the cell has to be finalized)
451 * $(LI 2: The cell should not be scanned for pointers)
452 * $(LI 4: The cell should not be moved during a collection
456 * See_Also: cell.BlkAttr, setAttr(), clrAttr()
458 uint getAttr(void* ptr)
460 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
467 * Set the attributes of the cell pointed by ptr.
469 * All bits present in attr are set, other bits are untouched. The old
470 * attributes are returned.
472 * See_Also: cell.BlkAttr, getAttr(), clrAttr()
474 uint setAttr(void* ptr, uint attr)
476 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
478 auto old = cell.attr;
486 * Clear the attributes of the cell pointed by ptr.
488 * All bits present in attr are cleared, other bits are untouched. The old
489 * attributes are returned.
491 * See_Also: cell.BlkAttr, getAttr(), setAttr()
493 uint clrAttr(void* ptr, uint attr)
495 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
497 auto old = cell.attr;
507 * This is the main allocator of the GC. The algorithm is really
508 * simple. It does a first-fit search in the free list, if no free cell is
509 * found with enough room, it runs a collection and retry (unless the GC
510 * is disabled). If there is no room still, it uses C malloc to allocate
511 * a new cell. If all that fails, then onOutOfMemoryError() runtime
512 * function is called to handle the error.
514 * attr are the attributes to associate to the new cell (see getAttr() for
517 void* malloc(size_t size, uint attr=0)
522 // Find a free cell in the free list with enough space
523 auto cell = this.free_list.pop(size);
527 // No room in the free list found, if the GC is enabled, trigger
528 // a collection and try again
529 if (!this.disabled) {
531 cell = this.free_list.pop(size);
536 // No luck still, allocate a new cell
537 cell = Cell.alloc(size, attr);
542 onOutOfMemoryError();
547 // Check the pattern to detect corruption
548 for (size_t i = 0; i < cell.capacity; ++i)
549 if ((cast(ubyte*) cell.ptr)[i] != 0xca)
552 cell.attr = cast(BlkAttr) attr;
555 this.live_list.link(cell);
561 * Allocate memory (set memory to zero).
563 * Same as malloc() but set the allocated memory cell to zero.
565 void* calloc(size_t size, uint attr=0)
570 void* ptr = this.malloc(size, attr);
572 if (ptr !is null) // in case onOutOfMemoryError didn't throw
573 cstring.memset(ptr, 0, size);
581 * This implementation is very simple, if size less or equals than the
582 * cells capacity, the cell's size is changed and the same address is
583 * returned. Otherwise a new cell is allocated using malloc() (this can
584 * trigger a collection), the contents are moved and the old cell is freed.
586 * attr has the same meaning as in malloc().
588 void* realloc(void* ptr, size_t size, uint attr=0)
591 // Undercover malloc()
593 return this.malloc(size, attr);
601 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
602 assert (cell !is null);
604 // We have enough capacity already, just change the size
605 if (cell.capacity >= size) {
610 // We need to move the cell because of the lack of capacity, find
611 // a free cell with the requested capacity (at least)
612 ptr = this.malloc(size, attr);
613 if (ptr is null) // in case onOutOfMemoryError didn't throw
615 Cell* new_cell = Cell.from_ptr(ptr);
616 assert (new_cell !is null);
618 // Move cell attributes and contents
619 new_cell.attr = cell.attr;
620 cstring.memcpy(new_cell.ptr, cell.ptr, cell.size);
629 * Attempt to in-place enlarge a memory block pointed to by ptr.
631 * The memory should be enlarged to at least min_size beyond its current
632 * capacity, up to a maximum of max_size. This does not attempt to move
633 * the memory block (like realloc() does).
636 * 0 if could not extend ptr, total size of entire memory block if
639 size_t extend(void* ptr, size_t min_size, size_t max_size)
641 assert (min_size <= max_size);
642 // There is no possible extension of the capacity for this
648 * Reserve memory to anticipate memory allocations.
650 * This implementation is really dumb, a single cell is allocated with
651 * size bytes. If 2 malloc()s follow a call to reserve(size), requesting
652 * size/2 bytes each, one allocation will still be done (and half the
653 * memory of the first malloc will be wasted =). Since this is a trivial
654 * implementation, we don't care about this.
656 * The actual number of bytes reserved are returned, or 0 on error.
658 size_t reserve(size_t size)
661 auto cell = Cell.alloc(size);
664 // Set the pattern to detect corruption
665 cstring.memset(cell.ptr, 0xca, cell.capacity);
666 this.free_list.link(cell);
667 return cell.capacity;
671 * Free unused memory.
673 * This method tells the GC that a cell is not longer used. The GC doesn't
674 * perform any connectivity check, if the cell was referenced by others,
675 * nasty things will happen (much like C/C++).
677 * Note that finalizers are not called by this method. Finalizers are
678 * called by the runtime when the delete operator is used, and the delete
679 * operator calls this method through the runtime.
686 auto cell = this.live_list.pop(ptr);
687 assert (cell !is null);
689 this.free_list.link(cell);
693 * Get the base address of an interior pointer into the GC heap.
695 * If ptr is not pointing into the GC heap null is returned.
697 void* addrOf(void* ptr)
702 bool in_range(Cell* cell)
704 return ptr >= cell.ptr && ptr < (cell.ptr + cell.size);
707 auto cell = this.live_list.find(&in_range);
715 * Return the real size (capacity) for the cell pointed to by ptr.
717 * ptr should be the base address of a heap allocated object, interior
718 * pointers are not supported (use addrOf() if you have an interior
719 * pointer). If this is not true, this method returns 0.
721 * realloc(ptr, sizeOf(ptr), attr) is guaranteed not to allocate/move
724 size_t sizeOf(void* ptr)
726 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
728 return cell.capacity;
733 * Get information about the cell pointed to by ptr.
735 * ptr should be the base address of a heap allocated object, interior
736 * pointers are not supported (use addrOf() if you have an interior
737 * pointer). If this is not true, this method returns BlkInfo.init.
739 * See BlkInfo for the information provided by this method.
741 BlkInfo query(void* ptr)
745 auto cell = this.live_list.find(ptr);
747 blk_info.base = cell.ptr;
748 blk_info.size = cell.capacity;
749 blk_info.attr = cell.attr;
756 * Add a root pointer to the root set.
758 * This method can be used to register new root to the GC heap. This is
759 * only needed when the user has custom memory that has pointers into the
760 * GC heap (for example for interfacing with C programs, which allocates
761 * memory using malloc() directly).
763 * See_Also: removeRoot(), addRange(), removeRange()
765 void addRoot(void* ptr)
767 this.root_pointers.append(ptr);
771 * Add a root range to the root set.
773 * This method can be used to register new root range (a memory chunk
774 * that should be scanned for pointers into the GC heap). This is
775 * only needed when the user has custom memory that has pointers into the
776 * GC heap (for example for interfacing with C programs, which allocates
777 * memory using malloc() directly).
779 * Pointers will be scanned assuming they are aligned.
781 * See_Also: removeRange(), addRoot(), removeRoot()
783 void addRange(void* ptr, size_t size)
785 this.root_ranges.append(RootRange(ptr, ptr + size));
789 * Remove a root pointer from the root set.
791 * ptr has to be previously registered using addRoot(), otherwise the
792 * results are undefined.
794 * See_Also: addRoot(), addRange(), removeRange()
796 void removeRoot(void* ptr)
798 this.root_pointers.remove(ptr);
802 * Remove a root range from the root set.
804 * ptr has to be previously registered using addRange(), otherwise the
805 * results are undefined.
807 * See_Also: addRange(), addRoot(), removeRoot()
809 void removeRange(void* ptr)
811 this.root_ranges.remove_if((ref RootRange range) {
812 return range.from is ptr;
818 // vim: set et sw=4 sts=4 :