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Module:

altstack

Summary:

run a function with a dedicated stack, and then release the memory

Author:

Dan Good <[email protected]>

Description:

C99 introduced variable length arrays to make the language easier to use and more efficient. Many regard VLA's with distrust due to fear of stack overflow. The same fear causes many to shy away from recursion.

altstack seeks to liberate us from this fear. altstack creates a dedicated stack, limited to a specified maximum size, runs a given function using this stack, and afterwards releases the memory back to the system.

altstack provides a way to obtain current stack usage and a way to fail gracefully.

altstack is implemented for x86-64 only.

Example:

// allocate a VLA on a dedicated stack and show memory usage
#include <assert.h>
#include <err.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <ccan/altstack/altstack.h>

#define ok(x) ({ int __r = (x); if (__r == -1) err(1, #x); __r; })

char maps[128], rss[128];

static void stack_used(void) {
        fprintf(stderr, "stack used: %ld\n", altstack_used());
}

static void *fn(void *arg)
{
        ok(system(maps));

        stack_used();
        ok(system(rss));

        char p[(long) arg];

        stack_used();
        ok(system(rss));

        memset(p, 0, sizeof(p));

        stack_used();
        ok(system(rss));

        return (void *) 0xaced;
}

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
        long stk_max, vla_sz;
        int ret;
        void *out;

        assert(argc == 3);
        stk_max = strtol(argv[1], NULL, 0) * 1024 * 1024;
        vla_sz  = strtol(argv[2], NULL, 0) * 1024 * 1024;
        assert(stk_max > 0 && vla_sz > 0);

        snprintf(maps, sizeof(maps), "egrep '\\[stack' /proc/%d/maps", getpid());
        snprintf(rss,  sizeof(rss),  "egrep '^VmRSS' /proc/%d/status", getpid());

        ok(system(maps));
        ok(system(rss));

        ret = altstack(stk_max, fn, (void *) vla_sz, &out);

        ok(system(maps));
        ok(system(rss));

        if (ret)
                altstack_perror();
        fprintf(stderr, "altstack return: %d, fn return: %p\n", ret, out);

        return 0;
}
// $ ./foo 1024 512
// 7ffeb59a9000-7ffeb59ca000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack]
// VmRSS:       760 kB
// 7f9cb6005000-7f9cf6004000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack:25891]
// stack used: 56
// VmRSS:       760 kB
// stack used: 536870968
// VmRSS:       760 kB
// stack used: 536870968
// VmRSS:    525500 kB
// 7ffeb59a9000-7ffeb59ca000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack]
// VmRSS:      1332 kB
// altstack return: 0, fn return: 0xaced
//
// $ ./foo 512 1024
// 7ffd62bd0000-7ffd62bf1000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack]
// VmRSS:       700 kB
// 7f0d3bef6000-7f0d5bef5000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack:25900]
// stack used: 56
// VmRSS:       700 kB
// 7ffd62bd0000-7ffd62bf1000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack]
// VmRSS:      1336 kB
// (altstack@103) SIGSEGV caught
// altstack return: -1, fn return: (nil)

License:

APACHE-2