Chunk

A heap chunk is a block of memory that is allocated on the heap, a section of memory used for dynamic memory allocation.

Allocated Chunks

A chunk has two sections :

• Metadata : information about the chunk

• User data : data stored

Within metadatas, there is 5 informations :

• Previous size : Contain the size of the previous chunk

• Size : Contain the size of the chunk

• A ( NON MAIN ARENA ): 0 for chunks in the main arena. Each thread spawned receives its own arena and for those chunks, this bit is set.

• M ( IS MMAPPED ): Is 1 if the chunk is obtained through mmap. The other two bits are ignored. mmapped chunks are neither in an arena, not adjacent to a free chunk.

• P (PREV_INUSE): 0 when previous chunk (not the previous chunk in the linked list, but the one directly before it in memory) is free (and hence the size of previous chunk is stored in the first field). The very first chunk allocated has this bit set. If it is 1, then we cannot determine the size of the previous chunk.

    chunk-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of previous chunk, if unallocated (P clear)  |
Metadata -> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of chunk, in bytes                     |A|M|P|
      mem-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             User data                                         |
            |             ...                                               |
            |             ...                                               |
nextchunk-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             (size of chunk)                                   |
Metadata -> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of next chunk, in bytes                |A|0|1|
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

The end of the user data contain the chunk size that is write at the prev_size area of the next chunk.

mem is the pointer which is returned to the user.

Free chunk

Free chunks have the same metadatas as an allocated chunk.

There is no user data ( actually is pretty logic ) , in place there is pointers to the next chunk and the previous chunk.

    chunk-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of previous chunk, if unallocated (P clear)  |
Metadata -> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of chunk, in bytes                     |A|0|P|
      mem-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Forward pointer to next chunk in list             |
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Back pointer to previous chunk in list            |
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Unused space (may be 0 bytes long)                |
nextchunk-> +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of chunk, in bytes                           |
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
            |             Size of next chunk, in bytes                |A|0|0|
            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+