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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="latin1" ?>
+<!DOCTYPE cref SYSTEM "cref.dtd">
+
+<cref>
+ <header>
+ <copyright>
+ <year>1996</year><year>2009</year>
+ <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
+ </copyright>
+ <legalnotice>
+ The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
+ Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
+ compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
+ Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
+ retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
+
+ Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
+ basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
+ the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
+ under the License.
+
+ </legalnotice>
+
+ <title>erl_malloc</title>
+ <prepared>Torbj&ouml;rn T&ouml;rnkvist</prepared>
+ <responsible>Torbj&ouml;rn T&ouml;rnkvist</responsible>
+ <docno></docno>
+ <approved>Bjarne D&auml;cker</approved>
+ <checked>Torbj&ouml;rn T&ouml;rnkvist</checked>
+ <date>980703</date>
+ <rev>A</rev>
+ <file>erl_malloc.sgml</file>
+ </header>
+ <lib>erl_malloc</lib>
+ <libsummary>Memory Allocation Functions</libsummary>
+ <description>
+ <p>This module provides functions for allocating and deallocating
+ memory.</p>
+ </description>
+ <funcs>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>ETERM *</ret><nametext>erl_alloc_eterm(etype)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Allocates an ETERM structure</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>unsigned char etype;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>This function allocates an <c><![CDATA[(ETERM)]]></c> structure.
+ Specify <c><![CDATA[etype]]></c> as one of the following constants:</p>
+ <list type="bulleted">
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_INTEGER</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_U_INTEGER <c><![CDATA[/* unsigned integer */]]></c></p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_ATOM</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_PID <c><![CDATA[/* Erlang process identifier */]]></c></p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_PORT</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_REF <c><![CDATA[/* Erlang reference */]]></c></p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_LIST</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_EMPTY_LIST</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_TUPLE</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_BINARY</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_FLOAT</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_VARIABLE</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_SMALL_BIG <c><![CDATA[/* bignum */]]></c></p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>ERL_U_SMALL_BIG <c><![CDATA[/* bignum */]]></c></p>
+ </item>
+ </list>
+ <p><c><![CDATA[ERL_SMALL_BIG]]></c> and <c><![CDATA[ERL_U_SMALL_BIG]]></c> are for
+ creating Erlang <c><![CDATA[bignums]]></c>, which can contain integers of
+ arbitrary size. The size of an integer in Erlang is machine
+ dependent, but in general any integer larger than 2^28
+ requires a bignum.</p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_eterm_release(void)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Clears the ETERM freelist</fsummary>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Clears the
+ freelist, where blocks are placed when they are
+ released by <c><![CDATA[erl_free_term()]]></c> and
+ <c><![CDATA[erl_free_compound()]]></c>. </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_eterm_statistics(allocated, freed)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Reports term allocation statistics</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>long *allocated;</v>
+ <v>long *freed;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p><c><![CDATA[allocated]]></c> and <c><![CDATA[freed]]></c> are initialized to
+ contain information about the fix-allocator used to allocate
+ ETERM components. <c><![CDATA[allocated]]></c> is the number of blocks
+ currently allocated to ETERM objects. <c><![CDATA[freed]]></c> is the
+ length of the freelist, where blocks are placed when they are
+ released by <c><![CDATA[erl_free_term()]]></c> and
+ <c><![CDATA[erl_free_compound()]]></c>. </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_free_array(array, size)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Frees an array of ETERM structures</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>ETERM **array;</v>
+ <v>int size;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>This function frees an array of Erlang terms.</p>
+ <p><c><![CDATA[array]]></c> is an array of ETERM* objects.
+ </p>
+ <p><c><![CDATA[size]]></c> is the number of terms in the array.</p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_free_term(t)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Frees an ETERM structure</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>ETERM *t;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Use this function to free an Erlang term.</p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_free_compound(t)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Frees an array of ETERM structures</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>ETERM *t;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Normally it is the programmer's responsibility to free each
+ Erlang term that has been returned from any of the
+ <c><![CDATA[erl_interface]]></c> functions. However since many of the
+ functions that build new Erlang terms in fact share objects
+ with other existing terms, it may be difficult for the
+ programmer to maintain pointers to all such terms in order to
+ free them individually.
+ </p>
+ <p><c><![CDATA[erl_free_compound()]]></c> will recursively free all of the
+ sub-terms associated with a given Erlang term, regardless of
+ whether we are still holding pointers to the sub-terms.
+ </p>
+ <p>There is an example in the User Manual under "Building
+ Terms and Patterns"
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_malloc(size)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Allocates some memory</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>long size;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>This function calls the standard
+ <c><![CDATA[malloc()]]></c> function. </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name><ret>void</ret><nametext>erl_free(ptr)</nametext></name>
+ <fsummary>Frees some memory</fsummary>
+ <type>
+ <v>void *ptr;</v>
+ </type>
+ <desc>
+ <p>This function calls the standard
+ <c><![CDATA[free()]]></c> function. </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ </funcs>
+</cref>
+