Bug or not? printf allocates buffer & never frees it

[Florian Weimer]

* Godmar Back:

> Is GNU libc designed to be used in environments that do not deallocate
> all memory upon exit(), i.e., environments that can call exit()
> multiple times without being provided with a fresh heap each time?  I
> understand ISO C allows this and POSIX is quiet on this specific
> issue. Is complete deallocation of one-time buffers before exit() a
> design goal of GNU libc?

Not really.  None of the currently supported targets behave in that way.
We have __libc_freeres to clean up *after* exit (and atexit handlers
etc.), but it only exists for leak debuggers.  valgrind can call it, for
example, and we also call it in mtrace mode.  It's also a bit of a
reasonable effort thing: there are allocations we currently do not free,
particularly around dlopen.

Thanks,
Florian