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.TH POOL_ALLOC 3
.SH NAME
pool_alloc, pool_free, pool_talloc, pool_tfree, pool_create, pool_destroy
\- Allocate and free memory in managed allocation pools.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include "pool_alloc.h"

\fBstruct alloc_pool *pool_create(size_t \fIsize\fB, size_t \fIquantum\fB, void (*\fIbomb\fB)(char *), int \fIflags\fB);

\fBvoid pool_destroy(struct alloc_pool *\fIpool\fB);

\fBvoid *pool_alloc(struct alloc_pool *\fIpool\fB, size_t \fIsize\fB, char *\fImsg\fB);

\fBvoid pool_free(struct alloc_pool *\fIpool\fB, sise_t \fIsize\fB, void *\fIaddr\fB);

\fBvoid *pool_talloc(struct alloc_pool *\fIpool\fB, \fItype\fB), int \fIcount\fB, char *\fImsg\fB);

\fBvoid pool_tfree(struct alloc_pool *\fIpool\fB, \fItype\fB, int \fIcount\fB, void *\fIaddr\fB);
.SH DESCRIPTION
.P
The pool allocation routines use
.B malloc()
for underlying memory management.
What allocation pools do is cause
memory within a given pool to be in large contigious blocks
(called extents) that when freed will be reusable.  Unlike
.B malloc()
the allocations are not managed individually.
Instead each extent tracks the total free memory within the
extent.  Each extent can either be used to allocate memory
or to manage the freeing of memory within that extent.
When an extent has less free memory than a given
allocation request or when the first request to free
memory within that extent is received the extent ceases to
be used for allocation.
.P
This form of memory management is suited to large numbers of small
related allocations that are held for a while
and then freed as a group.
Because the
underlying allocations are done in large contigious extents
when an extent is freed it releases a large enough
contigious block of memory to be useful to subsequent
.B malloc()
and
.B pool_alloc()
calls even if allocations from other pools or from
.B malloc()
are made between allocations from a given pool.
.P
.B pool_create()
Creates an allocation pool for subsequent calls to the pool
allocation functions.
When an extent is created for allocations it will be
.I size 
bytes.
Allocations from the pool have their sizes rounded up to a
multiple of
.I quantum
bytes in length.
Specifying
.B 0
for
.I quantum
Will produce a quantum that should meet maximal allignment
on most platforms.
If the
.B POOL_QALIGN
.I flag
is set allocations will be aligned to addresses that are a
multiple of
.IR quantum .
If the
.B POOL_CLEAR
.I flag
is set all allocations from the pool will be zero filled.
.P
.B pool_destroy()
destroys an allocation pool and frees all memory allocated
in that pool.
.P
.B pool_alloc()
allocates
.I size
bytes from the specified
.IR pool .
If
.I size
is
.B 0
.I quantum
bytes will be freed.
If the requested memory cannot be allocated
.B pool_alloc()
will call
.I bomb()
function, if defined, with
.I msg
as it's sole argument and
.B NULL
will be returned.
.P
.B pool_free()
frees
.I size
bytes pointed to by
.I addr
previously allocated in the specified
.IR pool .
The memory freed within an extent will not be reusable until
all of the memory in that extent has been freed but 
depending on the order in which the
allocations are freed some extents may be released for reuse
while others are still in use.
If
.I size
is
.B 0
.I quantum
bytes will be freed.
If
.I addr
is
.B 0
no memory will be freed but subsequent allocations will come
from a new extent.
.P
.B pool_talloc()
is a macro that take a
.I type
and
.I count
instead of
.I size
and will cast the return value to the correct type.
.P
.B pool_tfree
is a macro to free memory previously allocated in the
specified
.IR pool .
.SH RETURN VALUE
.B pool_create()
returns a pointer to
.BR "struct alloc_pool" .
.P
.B pool_alloc()
and
.B pool_talloc()
return pointers to the allocated memory,
or NULL if the request fails.
For each extent so long as no allocations are smaller than varaible
allignment requirements this pointer will be suitably
alligned for any kind of variable.
The return type of
.B pool_alloc()
will normally require casting to the desired type but
.B pool_talloc()
will returns a pointer of the requested
.IR type .
.P
.BR pool_free() ,
.B pool_tfree()
and
.B pool_destroy()
return no value.
.SH SEE ALSO
.nf
malloc(3)
.SH AUTHOR
pool_alloc was created by J.W. Schultz of Pegasystems Technologies.
.SH BUGS AND ISSUES