Commit Graph

1 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
Lephe 162b11cc73
kmalloc: create the kmalloc interface
This change introduces a centralized memory allocator in the kernel.
This interface can call into multiple arenas, including the default OS
heap and planned arenas managed by a gint algorithm.

The main advantage of this method is that it allows the heap to be
extended over previously-unused areas of RAM such as the end of the
static RAM region (apart from where the stack resides). Not using the OS
heap is also sometimes a matter of correctness since on some OS versions
the heap is known to fragment badly and degrade over time.

I hope the deep control this interfaces gives over meomry allocation
will allow very particular applications like object-specific allocators
in fragmented SPU memory.

This change does not introduce any new algorithm or arena so programs
should behave exactly as before.
2021-03-12 17:24:49 +01:00