Re: possible problem with memory allocation using calloc/mmap/munmap

[Corinna Vinschen <corinna-cygwin at cygwin dot com>]

On Jun  4 15:48, Stanislav Kascak wrote:
> > > > > It seems that when mmap() is called with length argument exceeding
> > > > > size of file, only memory to fit that file is allocated. munmap()
> > > > > however frees the full specified length. [...]
> > > > [...]
> > > > I know this situation is unsatisfying, but I have no easy workaround
> > > > to allow this.  Cygwin could add the anonymous mapping on the next
> > > > 64K boundary on 64 bit, but that would result in a hole in the mapping
> > > > which seemed like a rather bad idea when porting mmap to 64 bit.
> > > >
> > > > Ken's also right that munmap is doing the right thing here.  If
> > > > anything's wrong, it's mmap's workaround for mappings beyond the file
> > > > length.  If only 64 bit would allow 4K-aligned mappings :(
> > >
> > > Thanks for the answer. It is appreciated.
> > > I understand the problem and difficulty to resolve it. Maybe returning
> > > an error from mmap (and putting a comment to code for its reason)
> > > would be sufficient. mmap caller could just adjust requested
> > > allocation size to file size. Without error, caller has no way of
> > > knowing memory was not allocated and segfault is then thrown in an
> > > unrelated memory segment which makes the root cause hard to track
> > > down. But, I do not know all the implication that could result from
> > > that, so evaluation of this approach is up to you.
> > [...]
> > Eventually Cygwin adds another mapping to fullfill the entire mapping
> > request:
> >
> >  |-- file 4K --|-- filler 60K --|-- filler 192K --|
> >
> > The problem on WOW64 and real 64 bit is that it's impossible to map
> > the first filler.  However, this area in the VM will *never* be
> > allocated by other application functions due to the allocation
> > granularity of 64K!
> >
> > So my workaround for 64 bit and WOW64 is to just skip allocating the
> > first filler:
> >
> >  |-- file 4K --|-- THE VOID 60K --|-- filler 192K --|
> >
> > The advantage is now that the following munmap of 256K will only
> > unmap the map for the file and the filler, but not the region you
> > calloced before, which formerly was accidentally mapped to the
> > filler region.  This just can't happen anymore now.
> >
> > Would that be feasible?  If so I can push my patch and create a
> > developer snapshot for testing.
> 
> Two questions arise when I'm thinking about workaround solution:
> - what happens if caller tries to write to |-- THE VOID 60K --|. Since
> this is unallocated, would there be a segfault?

Accessing the VOID would raise SIGSEGV, while accessing the filler
raises SIGBUS.  The latter is also used to implement MAP_NORESERVE,
which the VOID can't support.

> - is it possible that some subsequent mem alloc request would return
> region from |-- THE VOID 60K --| which could again cause segfault
> after munmap?

No, as stated above.  Allocations are restricted to Windows' 64K
allocation granularity.


Corinna

-- 
Corinna Vinschen
Cygwin Maintainer

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