9 years, 8 months ago.

Different behaviors of New operator - Dynamic memory allocation

Hi everyone, i tested an sample try-catch block with a simple memory allocation program in an embed device which runs with only 64MB RAM with customized linux OS 32-bit Xscale Arm architecture.My intention was to verify whether a normal try catch block will work when there is no memory on this device.Im listing the code as below.Assume this as program1

#include "stdio.h"
#include "stdlib.h"
int main()
{
        int count;
        int *q[409600];
        printf("\nHeap Leak Starting at..");
        system("date");
        fflush(stdout);
        printf("\n, Count is located at ,%p,",&count);
        for(count=0;count<409600;count++)
        {
                printf("\nCount = ,%d,",count);
                int i=2;
                try
                {
                        fflush(stdout);
                        q[count] = new int[409600];
                        printf("New Success.Allocated %ld Bytes at %p.Difference = 0x%x,\n",(i*100000),q[count],(long)(&i) - (long)q[count]);
                        fflush(stdout);
                }
                catch(...)
                {
                                printf("\nException Caught...New Failed..No Memory Available.\n");
                                fflush(stdout);
                                exit(1);
                }
        }
}

Output of Program1:

Thu Jul 31 20:38:00 UTC 2014

Heap Leak Starting at..

, Count is located at ,0xbffffc48,

Count = ,0,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x402c0008.Difference = 0x7fbafc3c,

Count = ,1,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x40451008.Difference = 0x7fa1ec3c,

Count = ,2,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x405e2008.Difference = 0x7f88dc3c,

Count = ,3,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x40773008.Difference = 0x7f6fcc3c,

........The count goes on........

Count = ,1954,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0xbf854008.Difference = 0x61bc3c,

Count = ,1955,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0xbf9e5008.Difference = 0x48ac3c,

Count = ,1956,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0xbfb76008.Difference = 0x2f9c3c,

Count = ,1957,

Exception Caught...New Failed..No Memory Available.

Now this is an expected behaviour.Since no memory is there,Exception is throwed.

Then i modified the line "q[count] = new int[409600]" to "q[count] = new int[100000]".Lets assume this as program2.I recompiled the program and executed on the same device.

Output of Program2:

Thu Jul 31 20:39:43 UTC 2014

Heap Leak Starting at..

, Count is located at ,0xbffffc48,

Count = ,0,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x402c0008.Difference = 0x7fbafc3c,

Count = ,1,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x40322008.Difference = 0x7fb4dc3c,

Count = ,2,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x40384008.Difference = 0x7faebc3c,

Count = ,3,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x403e6008.Difference = 0x7fa89c3c,

............The count goes on.............

Count = ,5215,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x87d00018.Difference = 0x3816fc2c,

Count = ,5216,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x87d61aa0.Difference = 0x3810e1a4,

Count = ,5217,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x87e00018.Difference = 0x3806fc2c,

Count = ,5218,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x87e61aa0.Difference = 0x3800e1a4,

Count = ,5219,New Success.Allocated 200000 Bytes at 0x87f00018.Difference = 0x37f6fc2c,

Count = ,5220,

And at this point,the process gets hanged forever at the New operator.I could not access the terminal even if i run the process in background.

Now im confused on noticing this different behaviour of "new".Please note that in the exception throwing case im allocating a large size(409600) than the case where the process gets hanged(100000). Even this could be root cause for the Ui process hang issue which was reported So,a breakthrough for this sample program's behaviour would show the direction for breaking the ui process hang. Can you help me in clarifying this different behvaiour of New? Pls share your thoughts and some clues..

PS:Ignore the number "200000" as i have printed it wrongly.