Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!caen!spool.mu.edu!think.com!linus!linus!cyclone!feighery
From: feighery@cyclone.mitre.org (P. D. Feighery)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix
Subject: xmallocing
Message-ID: <1991Jun28.192544.13203@linus.mitre.org>
Date: 28 Jun 91 19:25:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: linus.1991Jun28.192544.13203
Sender: news@linus.mitre.org (News Service)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Lines: 15
Originator: feighery@cyclone
Nntp-Posting-Host: cyclone.mitre.org

Hello, I was testing out the kernel environment on our risc 6k and ran into
an interesting feature.  I'm hoping someone could shed some light it.

I wanted to make sure the IBM did garbage collection in the kernel
environment, so I wrote a little program that would xmalloc memory from the
kernel_heap.

The program simply xmalloced until the xmalloc failed.  Then I xfreed bits and
pieces from various areas and tried to xmalloc the sum of the pieces I xfreed.
Well, I had to xmalloc 230 Meg until the xmalloc failed.  What I think is
happening is that the IBM is paging back and forth to the regions on our
disk which haven't been allocated to a particular partition.  Is this true?

Pat Feighery
feighery@fluky.mitre.org