HACKING: Document the new malloc related guidelines.

This commit is contained in:
Uwe Hermann 2014-11-12 00:04:28 +01:00
parent 487c23fc99
commit c7e4556258
1 changed files with 9 additions and 6 deletions

15
HACKING
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@ -76,18 +76,21 @@ Random notes
- Generally avoid assigning values to variables at declaration time,
especially so for complex and/or run-time dependent values.
- Consistently use g_try_malloc() / g_try_malloc0(). Do not use standard
- Consistently use g_*malloc() / g_*malloc0(). Do not use standard
malloc()/calloc() if it can be avoided (sometimes other libs such
as libftdi can return malloc()'d memory, for example).
- Always properly match allocations with the proper *free() functions. If
glib's g_try_malloc()/g_try_malloc0() was used, use g_free() to free the
glib's g_*malloc()/g_*malloc0() was used, use g_free() to free the
memory. Otherwise use standard free(). Never use the wrong function!
- Never use g_malloc() or g_malloc0(). These functions do not return NULL
if not enough memory is available but rather lead to an exit() or segfault
instead. This behaviour is not acceptable for libraries.
Use g_try_malloc()/g_try_malloc0() instead and check the return value.
- We assume that "small" memory allocations (< 1MB) will always succeed.
Thus, it's fine to use g_malloc() or g_malloc0() for allocations of
simple/small structs and such (instead of using g_try_malloc()), and
there's no need to check the return value.
Do use g_try_malloc() or g_try_malloc0() for large (>= 1MB) allocations
and check the return value.
- You should never print any messages (neither to stdout nor stderr nor
elsewhere) "manually" via e.g. printf() or g_log() or similar functions.