Memory debug library functions

This appendix contains reference information about the XL C compiler memory debug library functions, which are extensions of the standard C memory management functions. The appendix is divided into two sections:

Memory allocation debug functions describes the debug versions of the standard library functions for allocating heap memory.
String handling debug functions describes the debug versions of the standard library functions for manipulating strings.

Notes:

The memory debug library supports only extensions for the memory management functions that are described in this document.
The compiler supports the memory allocation debug functions, but IBM has no plans to change or enhance these functions, and these functions will be removed in a future release. If you use these functions to debug memory problems in your programs, you can migrate to the AIX® debug malloc tool to achieve equivalent functionality. For details of the AIX debug malloc tool, see http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/index.htm.

To use these debug versions, you can do either of the following operations:

In your source code, prefix any of the default or user-defined-heap memory management functions with _debug_.
If you do not want to make changes to the source code, compile with the -qheapdebug option. This option maps all calls to memory management functions to their debug version counterparts. To prevent a call from being mapped, parenthesize the function name.

All of the examples provided in this appendix assume compilation with the -qheapdebug option.