C Memory Management Issue - c

I have traced an EXC_BAD_ACCESS to the following allocation and deallocation of memory. It involves the accelerate framework in Xcode. The main issue is that this code is in a loop. If i force the loop to only iterate once then it works fine. But when it loops (7 times) it causes an error on the second iteration. Does any of this look incorrect?
EDIT: *added actual code. This segment runs if I remove certain parts and such but seems to have poor memory management which results in issues
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <Accelerate/Accelerate.h>
for(int i = 0; i < 8; i++)
{
int XX[M][m]; //M and m are just 2 ints
for(int kk = 0; kk < M; kk++)
{
for (int kk1 = 0; kk1 < m; kk1++)
{
XX[kk][kk1] = [[x objectAtIndex: (kk + kk1 * J)] intValue]; //x is a NSMutableArray of NSNumber objects
}
}
double FreqRes = (double) freqSamp/n;
NSMutableArray *freqs = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: round((freqSamp/2 - FreqRes) - 1)];
int freqSum = 0;
for(double i = -1 * freqSamp/2; i < (freqSamp/2 - FreqRes); i+= FreqRes)
{
[freqs addObject: [NSNumber numberWithInt: i]];
if(i == 0)
{
freqSum++;
}
}
int num = [x count];
int log2n = (int) log2f(num);
int nOver2 = n / 2;
FFTSetupD fftSetup = vDSP_create_fftsetupD (log2n, kFFTRadix2);
double ffx[num];
DSPDoubleSplitComplex fft_data;
fft_data.realp = malloc(nOver2 * sizeof(double)); //Error usually thrown on this line in the second iteration. Regardless of what I put there. If I add an NSLog here it throws the error on that NSLog
fft_data.imagp = malloc(nOver2 * sizeof(double));
for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
ffx[i] = [[x objectAtIndex:i] doubleValue];
}
vDSP_ctozD((DSPDoubleComplex *) ffx, 2, &fft_data, 1, nOver2);
vDSP_fft_zripD (fftSetup, &fft_data, 1, log2n, kFFTDirection_Forward);
for (int i = 0; i < nOver2; ++i)
{
fft_data.realp[i] *= 0.5;
fft_data.imagp[i] *= 0.5;
}
int temp = 1;
ffx[0] = abs(fft_data.realp[0]);
for(int i = 1; i < nOver2; i++)
ffx[i] = sqrt((fft_data.realp[i] * fft_data.realp[i]) + (fft_data.imagp[i] * fft_data.imagp[i]));
ffx[nOver2] = abs(fft_data.imagp[0]);
for(int i = nOver2-1; i > 0; i--)
{
ffx[nOver2 + temp] = sqrt((fft_data.realp[i] * fft_data.realp[i]) + (fft_data.imagp[i] * fft_data.imagp[i]));
temp++;
}
//clear Fxx and freqs data
vDSP_destroy_fftsetupD(fftSetup);
free(fft_data.imagp);
free(fft_data.realp);
[freqs release];
}

Your problem could be that you are casting malloc to a value. As you're tagging this c, I'm assuming that you are compiling in c in which case you should see this answer to a previous question as to why casting with malloc is bad:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/1565552/1515720
you can get an unpredictable runtime error when using the cast without including stdlib.h.
So the error on your side is not the cast, but forgetting to include stdlib.h. Compilers may assume that malloc is a function returning int, therefore converting the void* pointer actually returned by malloc to int and then to your your pointer type due to the explicit cast. On some platforms, int and pointers may take up different numbers of bytes, so the type conversions may lead to data corruption.
Regardless though, as the answer says, YOU SHOULD NOT BE CASTING MALLOC RETURNS, because void*'s are safely implicitly converted to whatever you are assigning it to.
As another answerer stated:
vDSP_destroy_fftsetupD(fftSetup);
Could be also free'ing the memory you allocated on accident.

Any chance the destructor of DSPDoubleSplitComplex is freeing up those two allocated blocks?
It could also be that you are only allowed to call vDSP_create_fftsetupD and vDSP_destroy_fftsetupD once during your process's lifetime

Related

Memory leaking in C, malloc inside function

I am trying to create a 2d array of struct grid_t, and am getting memory leak warnings via address sanitiser, and eventually a seg fault in certain conditions.
There may be various points in my code causing this, but I thought knowing what was going wrong here would point me in the right direction to fixing the rest.
I am new to C and thus to memory management, so all feedback is welcome and appreciated!
void createGridArray(atom_t* ATOM) {
ATOM -> grid = (grid_t**) malloc(WIDTH * sizeof(grid_t*));
grid_t *nullGrid = malloc(sizeof(grid_t));
grid_t temp = {NULL, 0};
*nullGrid = temp;
for (int i = 0; i < WIDTH; i++) {
(ATOM -> grid)[i] = malloc(HEIGHT * sizeof(grid_t));
for (int j = 0; j < HEIGHT; j++) {
(ATOM -> grid)[i][j] = *nullGrid;
}
}
//free(nullGrid); <- do I do this now?
return;
}
Firstly, don't cast the return from malloc(). It is not required in C, and can obscure serious errors.
Second, don't hard-code the type into the malloc() call. For example,
ATOM->grid = (grid_t**) malloc(WIDTH * sizeof(grid_t*));
would be replaced by
ATOM->grid = malloc(WIDTH * sizeof(*(ATOM->grid)));
This ensures the memory allocated is of the required size, regardless of what ATOM->grid is a pointer to.
To answer your question, to release all memory, you need to pass every nonNULL pointer returned by malloc() to free(). Exactly once.
So, if you allocate like this
ATOM->grid = malloc(WIDTH * sizeof(*(ATOM->grid)));
grid_t *nullGrid = malloc(sizeof(*nullGrid));
grid_t temp = {NULL, 0};
*nullGrid = temp;
for (int i = 0; i < WIDTH; i++)
{
(ATOM -> grid)[i] = malloc(HEIGHT * sizeof(*((ATOM->grid)[i])));
for (int j = 0; j < HEIGHT; j++) {
(ATOM -> grid)[i][j] = *nullGrid;
}
the one way of deallocating would be
for (int i = 0; i < WIDTH; i++)
{
free((ATOM -> grid)[i]);
}
free(ATOM->grid);
free(nullGrid);
In this case, you cannot safely free(ATOM->grid) before any free((ATOM -> grid)[i]) (unless you store all of the (ATOM->grid)[i] somewhere else, which sort of defeats the point). The individual (ATOM->grid)[i] may be freed in any order (as long as each is released exactly once).
Lastly, check the pointers returned by malloc(). It returns NULL when it fails, and dereferencing a NULL pointer gives undefined behaviour.
Yes, you need to free(nullGrid); here to avoid a memory leak.
But actually you can simplify your code to this:
void createGridArray(atom_t* ATOM) {
ATOM -> grid = (grid_t**) malloc(WIDTH * sizeof(grid_t*));
grid_t nullGrid = {NULL, 0};
for (int i = 0; i < WIDTH; i++) {
(ATOM -> grid)[i] = malloc(HEIGHT * sizeof(grid_t));
for (int j = 0; j < HEIGHT; j++) {
(ATOM -> grid)[i][j] = nullGrid;
}
}
}
There is need for mallocing nullGrid here at all. BTW the return at the end of a void function is implicit.
You wouldn't do this either:
void Foo()
{
...
int *temp = malloc(sizeof(int));
*temp = ...;
...
bar = *temp;
...
free(temp);
}
but rather:
void Foo()
{
...
int temp
temp = ...;
...
bar = temp;
...
}
The C memory allocation is easier when you think it as a "loan".
Somehow, the system loan you some memory when you call malloc(), and you have to give it back with free().

Value changes in a struct when editing another struct in another function

I've run into a problem with structs which I believe is caused by incorrect mallocs, or possibly rather my reallocs. I've cut down the code as much as possible to only show what I believe could be relevant, so nearly all the actual operations are omitted.
The struct I have looks as follows:
struct poly_t {
int nvars, *factor, *exp;
};
The value that's acting weird is nvars, which to me would signify that I'm somehow not reserving memory properly. What I do is that I first have a function that creates and fills the struct, then I have another function where I send two of these structs in and create a third identical struct. When editing the value of nvars in this third struct, it very rarely also edits the value of nvars in the first struct. When running gdb, it shows the exact row it happens on is when I do thirdp->nvars++; in my mul function.
So with this function I create my first and second structs (a and b).
poly_t* new_poly_from_string(const char* a){
struct poly_t* p = malloc(sizeof(struct poly_t));
p->nvars = 0;
p->factor = malloc(strlen(a) * sizeof(int));
p->exp = malloc(strlen(a) * sizeof(int));
for (int i = 0; i < strlen(a); i++){
//do stuff to put a into p, using at most p->factor[p->nvars] and the same for p->exp
p->factor = realloc(p->factor, p->nvars*sizeof(int));
p->exp = realloc(p->exp, p->nvars*sizeof(int));
printf("%d", p->nvars); //At this point, nvars is the correct value
return p;
}
And below is the function that works in 9/10 cases but in some rare cases it doesn't. I've marked the exact row that changes a->nvars with an arrow -->.
poly_t* mul(poly_t* a, poly_t* b){
struct poly_t* thirdp = malloc(sizeof(struct poly_t));
thirdp->nvars = 0;
thirdp->factor = malloc((a->nvars + b->nvars) * sizeof(int));
thirdp->exp = malloc((a->nvars + b->nvars) * sizeof(int));
for (int i = 0; i < a->nvars; i++){
for (int j = 0; j < b->nvars; j++){
for (int k = 0; k < p->nvars; k++){
if (p->exp[k] == a->exp[i] + b->exp[j]){
p->factor[k] += a->factor[i]*b->factor[j];
found = 1;
break;
}
}
if (!found){
p->factor[p->nvars] = a->factor[i]*b->factor[j];
p->exp[p->nvars] = a->exp[i] + b->exp[j];
--> p->nvars++; //This is the row that changes a->nvars according to gdb
}
}
}
return thirdp;
}
Here's what I got when running gdb while trying to figure out what was changing a->nvars. Note that p is the same as thirdp above, I just renamed it here for clarity.
edit: Readded the actual code in the mul function
You are allocating space for the sum of the number of integers
a->nvars + b->nvars
I wonder what you do in
//fill thirdp->factor and thirdp->exp
As you have nested for loops I suspect you may be generating
a->nvars * b->nvars //multiply
items and hence running off the end of allocated space. You now show us the code and we see
if (!found){
// --- here ----
p->factor[p->nvars] = a->factor[i]*b->factor[j];
p->exp[p->nvars] = a->exp[i] + b->exp[j];
p->nvars++;
}
At the point I mark here you should check the value of p->nvars, I think it has the possibility to reach a value greater than (a->nvars + b->nvars).
I think to be safe allocate the space for (a->nvars * b->nvars) ints.
The problem was as I believed in the mallocs. Specifically the following two rows:
thirdp->factor = malloc((a->nvars + b->nvars) * sizeof(int));
thirdp->exp = malloc((a->nvars + b->nvars) * sizeof(int));
I simply wasn't allocating enough memory which caused the weird behaviour. What I wanted was:
thirdp->factor = malloc((a->exp[0] + b->exp[0]) * sizeof(int));
thirdp->exp = malloc((a->exp[0] + b->exp[0]) * sizeof(int));
Unfortunately since I didn't give any of the indata, or really much context, you guys probably couldn't have figured that out <.< Sorry!

Pass 2d array in function - return 2d array from a function in C

So i have read the other threads but i cant figure it out. My code is the following and it works fine.
double **sort(int counter, double **a){
int i, j;
double swap0, swap1;
for (i = 0 ; i < ( counter - 1 ); i++){
for (j = 0 ; j < counter - i - 1; j++){
if (a[0][j] > a[0][j+1]){
swap0 = a[0][j];
swap1 = a[1][j];
a[0][j] = a[0][j+1];
a[1][j] = a[1][j+1];
a[0][j+1] = swap0;
a[1][j+1] = swap1;
}
}
}
return a;
}
main(){
double **dist_table;
int i;
dist_table = (double **)calloc(2,sizeof(double*));
dist_table[0] = (double *)calloc(5,sizeof(double));
dist_table[1] = (double *)calloc(5,sizeof(double));
dist_table[0][0] = 5.1;
dist_table[1][0] = 0;
dist_table[0][1] = 6.1;
dist_table[1][1] = 1;
dist_table[0][2] = 3.1;
dist_table[1][2] = 2;
dist_table[0][3] = 2.1;
dist_table[1][3] = 3;
dist_table[0][4] = 7.1;
dist_table[1][4] = 4;
dist_table = sort(5, dist_table);
}
BUT i read that passing as an argument the **a is wrong. So why my codes runs fine, and which would be the right way?
Your function is just returning the same pointer you passed to it. Replacing:
dist_table = sort(5, distortable);
with:
sort(5, distortable);
would generally be better in this case, although sometimes returning the same value can be useful (e.g. if you want to use it within a larger expression).
For the last part of your question, passing a double ** would be wrong if you actually had a two-dimensional array of doubles, like this:
double my_array[2][5];
but that isn't what you have. You have a one-dimensional (dynamically allocated) array of double *, each element of which points to a one-dimensional (dynamically allocated) array of double. Actual multi-dimensional arrays are represented differently in memory to this, which is why passing a double ** would not work. But what you actually have here is completely different, and passing a double ** is fine, here.
Other unrelated points...
Casting the return from calloc() is completely unnecessary, and generally considered bad form. Better would be:
dist_table = calloc(2,sizeof(double*));
dist_table[0] = calloc(5,sizeof(double));
dist_table[1] = calloc(5,sizeof(double));
or better still:
dist_table = calloc(2,sizeof *dist_table);
for ( int i = 0; i < 2; ++i ) {
dist_table[i] = calloc(5,sizeof *(dist_table[i]));
}
Don't forget to check the return value of calloc() to find out if the allocation succeeded.
As long as you know the depth of the array and elements size you're doing it the right way.
Consider null terminating the array if the number of elements are dynamic and not limited to two.

Malloc affecting random integer value

I'm writing a virtual memory simulator in C, compiling on linux, and I'm getting something rather strange. It takes in a file IO, which I put into an int* plist.
I've printed this "plist" array, and it comes out to
0 100
1 200
2 400
3 300
etc
The problem is that it seems malloc or something is randomly changing plist[3] to 0. It doesn't seem like it should be that way, but I've put a print statement at every line of code to print plist[3], and
tables[i].valid = (char*) xmalloc(num_pages * sizeof(char));
is where it changes. plist[3] = 300 before the line, 0 after it. And it only does this when i = 2. The first 3 rounds of the loop run fine, and on round 3, it changes the values for round 4. I have no idea why, it makes little sense that malloc would change a value in an array that's completely unrelated - is it possible I've gone over some space limit, even though I'm using the heap for basically everything? Would it just change values in random arrays if I did?
for(i = 0; i < 4; i++){
num_pages = plist[i] / P1;
tables[i].page_num = (char**) xmalloc(num_pages * sizeof(char*));
tables[i].valid = (char*) xmalloc(num_pages * sizeof(char));
//initialize page numbers and valid bits
for(j = 0; j < 10; j++){
tables[i].page_num[j] = (char*) xmalloc(16*sizeof(char));
tmp = itoa(i, tmp);
strcat(tables[i].page_num[j], tmp);
strcat(tables[i].page_num[j], "p");
tmp = itoa(j, tmp);
strcat(tables[i].page_num[j], tmp);
tables[i].valid[j] = 0;
}
}
Here's the struct for tables:
typedef struct s_page_table
{
char** page_num;
char* valid;
} t_page_table;
And this is xmalloc (it's just a wrapper to make it easier):
void* xmalloc(int s)
{
void* p;
p = malloc(s);
if (p == NULL)
{
printf("Virtual Memory Exhausted");
exit(1);
}
return p;
}
EDIT: If I take out both lines referencing tables[i].valid, the problem does not exist. plist[3] stays the same. num_pages is always >= 10. I set j to be 0 to 10 just to have less output for debugging purposes.
EDIT 2: If I change valid from a char* to an int* it doesn't work. If I change it to an int, it does.
There are several possibilities, including (but not limited to):
tables[i] is out of bounds;
plist contains a dangling pointer (i.e. it's been deallocated);
plist hasn't been initialised;
plist isn't as large as you think, i.e. plist[3] is out of bounds.
If you can't figure out the problem by looking at the code, valgrind is your friend.
OK. So I believe the problem turned out to be playing with the strings before initializing everything. I'm not entirely certain the reason, maybe someone else can elaborate, but when I encapsulated JUST the initialization in its own function, like only doing mallocs, and then separately created the strings afterwards, the plist variable was unaffected.
For those interested, the encapsulated function looked like this:
t_page_table* table_builder(int* p, int x, int num_tables)
{
t_page_table* ret = xmalloc(num_tables * sizeof(*ret));
int i, tmp, j;
for(i = 0; i < num_tables; i++){
tmp = (p[i]/x);
ret[i].page_num = xmalloc(tmp * sizeof(char*));
ret[i].valid = xmalloc(tmp * sizeof(char));
for(j = 0; j < tmp; j++){
ret[i].page_num[j] = xmalloc(16 * sizeof(char));
ret[i].valid = 0;
}
}
return ret;
}

malloc'ed 3d array generates Data Access Violation

I have a malloc'ed 3d array of doubles in C that is generating a Data Access Violation error when accessed via indexes.
The allocation function: (Simplified version not checking for nulls or freeing if errors)
#define DIMENSIONA 50
#define DIMENSIONB 30
#define DIMENSIONC 2
double *** Array;
void InitialiseDataStructure(void)
{
int Counter = 0;
int PointCounter = 0;
Array = (double ***)malloc(DIMENSIONA * (sizeof(double**)));
for (Counter = 0; Counter < DIMENSIONA; Counter++)
{
Array[Counter] = (double **)malloc(DIMENSIONB * sizeof(double *));
for (PointCounter = 0; PointCounter < DIMENSIONB; PointCounter++)
{
Array[Counter][PointCounter] = (double *)malloc(DIMENSIONC * sizeof(double));
}
}
}
The array is then accessed like this:
Array[x][y][z] = 0;
This generates a data access violation error and terminates the program.
I have read and tried and come to the conclusion - I am dumb.
Please help!!!
What is POINTS_PER_GEOFENCE in the following for loop?
for (PointCounter = 0; PointCounter < POINTS_PER_GEOFENCE; PointCounter++)
Shouldn't that be
Array = malloc(DIMENSIONA * (sizeof(double**)));
for (Counter = 0; Counter < DIMENSIONA; Counter++) {
Array[Counter] = malloc(DIMENSIONB * sizeof(double *));
for (PointCounter = 0; PointCounter < DIMENSIONB; PointCounter++) {
Array[Counter][PointCounter] = malloc(DIMENSIONC * sizeof(double));
}
}
Note:
Read this for casting malloc()'s return value.
You need to check whether the malloc()'s returned success and failure before using that.

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