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1Native Memory Tracking using libc Callbacks
2-------------------------------------------
3Malloc debug can be used to get information on all of the live allocations
4in a process. The libc library in Android exports two calls that can be
5used to gather this data from a process. This tracking can be enabled using
6either the backtrace option or the backtrace\_enabled\_on\_signal option.
7
8The function to gather the data:
9
10<pre>
11<b>
12extern "C" void get_malloc_leak_info(uint8_t** info, size_t* overall_size, size_t* info_size, size_t* total_memory, size_t* backtrace_size);
13</b>
14</pre>
15
16<i>info</i> is set to a buffer allocated by the call that contains all of
17the allocation information.
18<i>overall\_size</i> is set to the total size of the buffer returned. If this
19<i>info\_size</i>
20value is zero, then there are no allocation being tracked.
21<i>total\_memory</i> is set to the sum of all allocation sizes that are live at
22the point of the function call. This does not include the memory allocated
23by the malloc debug library itself.
24<i>backtrace\_size</i> is set to the maximum number of backtrace entries
25that are present for each allocation.
26
27In order to free the buffer allocated by the function, call:
28
29<pre>
30<b>
31extern "C" void free_malloc_leak_info(uint8_t* info);
32</b>
33</pre>
34
35### Format of info Buffer
36<pre>
37size_t size_of_original_allocation
38size_t num_backtrace_frames
39uintptr_t pc1
40uintptr_t pc2
41uintptr_t pc3
42.
43.
44.
45</pre>
46
47The number of <i>uintptr\_t</i> values is determined by the value
48<i>backtrace\_size</i> as returned by the original call to
49<i>get\_malloc\_leak\_info</i>. This value is not variable, it is the same
50for all the returned data. The value
51<i>num\_backtrace\_frames</i> contains the real number of frames found. The
52extra frames are set to zero. Each <i>uintptr\_t</i> is a pc of the callstack.
53The calls from within the malloc debug library are automatically removed.
54
55For 32 bit systems, <i>size\_t</i> and <i>uintptr\_t</i> are both 4 byte values.
56
57For 64 bit systems, <i>size\_t</i> and <i>uintptr\_t</i> are both 8 byte values.
58
59The total number of these structures returned in <i>info</i> is
60<i>overall\_size</i> divided by <i>info\_size</i>.
61
62Note, the size value in each allocation data structure will have bit 31 set
63if this allocation was created by the Zygote process. This helps to distinguish
64between native allocations created by the application.
65