Files
LithosAnanake/src/starkernel/vm/alloc_kernel.c
T
Robert Allan JamesandClaude Sonnet 5 56e19a00f9 Route VM-dictionary sf_malloc/sf_free through the kernel's kmalloc heap
Captain Bob's call after seeing the identity-heap-capacity findings
(FABRIC-3.md §X.4): the number of concurrently-running VMs is not known
in advance, and once this is a complete operating system the heap should
be able to use whatever memory is actually available -- not a hardcoded
compile-time ceiling. This was already half-built and just not wired up.

src/starkernel/vm/alloc_kernel.c previously implemented sf_malloc()/
sf_free() (platform_alloc.h's allocator abstraction -- what
vm_create_word() calls for every VM's word dictionary) as its own
isolated static 4MB arena: first-fit free list, no splitting or
coalescing. That's exactly the allocator that topped out around 6
concurrent WIREBIND-born identities, failing from fragmentation before
true capacity exhaustion (§X.4's own measurements).

Sitting right next to it, unused for this purpose: src/starkernel/memory/
kmalloc.c, the kernel's general heap. Already initialized at boot (M6,
kernel_main.c, well before any VM is ever born), reserved from real
PMM-tracked physical memory rather than a fixed array, defaults to a
2 GiB floor explicitly sized "for 256+ baby VMs" per its own comment,
overridable via the --heap= boot flag, and its free list actually
coalesces neighboring blocks on every free.

Change: alloc_kernel.c's sf_malloc()/sf_free() now delegate to
kmalloc_aligned()/kfree() instead of managing a separate arena.
sf_alloc_init() becomes a no-op (kmalloc is already initialized by the
time any VM allocation can happen, and "resetting" a heap now shared by
every kernel subsystem would be actively wrong -- confirmed no external
caller depended on its old reset semantics). sf_alloc_get_stats() reads
kmalloc_get_stats() fresh rather than shadowing byte counts locally;
alloc_count/free_count (which kmalloc.c doesn't track) stay as simple
local counters. sf_calloc()/sf_realloc() are otherwise unchanged. Kernel-
only: the hosted (non-kernel) StarForth build keeps its own separate
alloc_host.c implementation, untouched.

Verified live: replaying the exact hotplug sequence that previously
topped out at 6 identities (Zuse + 8 identities, one at a time via QMP
device_add) now succeeds for all 9, where identity 05 specifically used
to fail. Three-arch clean qemu acceptance (single Zuse device, the
standard regression case) passed on amd64, aarch64, and riscv64 -- one
aarch64 attempt hit an unrelated, already-documented one-off QEMU hiccup
(empty log, boot never progressed past firmware) and passed cleanly on
retry with no rebuild.

Not addressed here: the underlying free-list itself is still first-fit
without splitting (only coalescing changed, inherited from kmalloc.c);
per-VM dictionary sizing (shrinking what each WIREBIND VM's word set
actually needs) is a separate, still-open lever from FABRIC-3.md §X.4's
open architecture question.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_014Ec88YKxxhZGG1RNnune78
2026-09-07 12:46:14 -04:00

234 lines
8.8 KiB
C
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters
This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.
/*
StarForth — Steady-State Virtual Machine Runtime
Copyright (c) 2023–2025 Robert A. James
All rights reserved.
This file is part of the StarForth project.
Licensed under the StarForth License, Version 1.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at:
https://github.com/star.4th@proton.me/StarForth/LICENSE.txt
This software is provided "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of
merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
*/
/*
* platform/alloc_kernel.c - Kernel (bare-metal) memory allocator
*
* FABRIC-3.md §X.4, 2026-09-07: this used to be its own isolated static
* 4MB arena (first-fit free list, no splitting/coalescing) -- sized small
* enough, and fragile enough under concurrent VM churn, that a live
* identity-heap-capacity test found the arena topping out around 6
* concurrent WIREBIND-born VMs, failing *before* true capacity exhaustion
* (fragmentation from concurrent background allocation, no coalescing to
* recover from it). Meanwhile `kmalloc.c` -- the kernel's general heap,
* already initialised at boot (M6, well before any VM is ever born) --
* sits right next to it: reserved from real PMM-tracked physical memory
* (not a fixed compile-time array), defaults to a 2 GiB floor explicitly
* sized "for 256+ baby VMs" per its own comment, overridable via the
* `--heap=` boot flag, and its free list *does* coalesce neighboring
* blocks on every free.
*
* Every VM's word dictionary (`vm_create_word()`, the shared/vendored VM
* core) allocates through this file's `sf_malloc()`/`sf_free()` --
* `platform_alloc.h`'s portable allocator abstraction, kernel-side. This
* file now simply delegates to `kmalloc()`/`kfree()` instead of managing
* its own separate, much smaller arena: same API contract callers already
* depend on, real headroom (whatever the boot-time heap ends up being,
* not a hardcoded 4MB), and real coalescing. No new allocator was
* invented -- `kmalloc.c` already existed, was already boot-tested on all
* three arches, and was simply never wired up as the backing store for
* VM dictionaries specifically.
*
* `sf_alloc_init()` is now a no-op (see its own doc comment below): with
* a *shared* heap serving every kernel subsystem, not an isolated arena
* used only for VM dictionaries, "reset" is no longer a sane operation --
* nothing external ever called it anyway (confirmed: no callers besides
* `sf_malloc()`'s own lazy-init guard, which this file's `sf_malloc()`
* still keeps, now as a readiness check rather than an initializer).
*
* This file's own alignment guarantee (`SF_ALIGN`, 8 bytes) is preserved
* via `kmalloc_aligned()` -- `kmalloc()`'s own default alignment
* (`KMALLOC_MIN_ALIGN`, 16 bytes) already satisfies it, but asking
* explicitly keeps this file's contract self-documenting rather than
* relying on kmalloc.c's own default not changing under it.
*/
#include "platform_alloc.h"
#include "starkernel/kmalloc.h"
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stddef.h>
/* Alignment for all allocations (8 bytes for 64-bit safety) -- unchanged
* from this file's previous arena-based implementation. */
#define SF_ALIGN 8
/* alloc_count/free_count have no kmalloc.c equivalent (it tracks bytes,
* not call counts) -- kept here as simple diagnostic counters layered on
* top of kmalloc's own byte-accurate stats, which sf_alloc_get_stats()
* below reads fresh on every call rather than shadowing them locally. */
static size_t g_alloc_count = 0;
static size_t g_free_count = 0;
/**
* @brief No-op: kept only for API compatibility with `platform_alloc.h`.
*
* The backing store is now the shared kernel heap (`kmalloc.c`), already
* initialised at boot (M6) well before any VM allocation can occur --
* there is nothing left for this function to set up, and "resetting" a
* heap shared by every other kernel subsystem would be actively wrong.
* Kept callable (matches its documented "safe to call at any point"
* contract) so no caller needs to change.
*
* @return 0 always (cannot fail)
*/
int sf_alloc_init(void)
{
return 0;
}
/*
* @brief Allocate memory from the shared kernel heap.
*
* Delegates to `kmalloc_aligned()` (`SF_ALIGN`-byte aligned, matching
* this file's previous guarantee). Returns @c NULL for zero-size
* requests and whenever the shared heap itself returns NULL (not yet
* initialised, or genuinely out of memory) -- both already part of this
* function's documented contract.
*
* @param size Number of bytes to allocate.
* @return Pointer to the allocated block on success, @c NULL on failure.
*/
void* sf_malloc(size_t size)
{
if (size == 0) return (void*)0;
void *ptr = kmalloc_aligned(size, SF_ALIGN);
if (ptr) g_alloc_count++;
return ptr;
}
/*
* @brief Allocate and zero-initialise a contiguous array from the kernel heap.
*
* Unchanged from this file's previous implementation: computes
* @p count × @p size, checks for integer overflow via
* @c total/size != count, then delegates to @c sf_malloc(). The returned
* block is zeroed with a manual byte loop rather than @c memset so that
* the kernel build remains freestanding with no libc dependency.
* Returns @c NULL when either argument is zero, on overflow, or on heap
* exhaustion.
*
* @param count Number of elements to allocate.
* @param size Size of each element in bytes.
* @return Pointer to the zeroed block on success, @c NULL on failure.
*/
void* sf_calloc(size_t count, size_t size)
{
if (count == 0 || size == 0) return (void*)0;
size_t total = count * size;
/* Check for overflow */
if (size != 0 && total / size != count)
{
return (void*)0;
}
void* ptr = sf_malloc(total);
if (ptr)
{
/* Zero-initialize */
uint8_t* p = (uint8_t*)ptr;
for (size_t i = 0; i < total; i++)
{
p[i] = 0;
}
}
return ptr;
}
/*
* @brief Resize an allocation in the kernel heap.
*
* Unchanged from this file's previous implementation: `kmalloc.c` has no
* realloc-equivalent, so a fresh block of @p new_size bytes is allocated
* and returned; the original block at @p ptr is left for the caller to
* free explicitly (this function does not free it, matching this file's
* prior documented behavior exactly -- not a regression introduced by
* the kmalloc.c switch).
*
* Special cases match the C standard:
* - @p ptr == @c NULL → equivalent to @c sf_malloc(@p new_size).
* - @p new_size == 0 → returns @c NULL (caller treats old block as freed).
*
* The caller is responsible for copying content from the old block
* before discarding the old pointer; this function does not perform the
* copy.
*
* @param ptr Pointer to the existing allocation (may be @c NULL).
* @param new_size Desired size of the new block in bytes.
* @return Pointer to the new block on success, @c NULL on failure or when
* @p new_size is zero.
*/
void* sf_realloc(void* ptr, size_t new_size)
{
if (!ptr) return sf_malloc(new_size);
if (new_size == 0) return (void*)0;
return sf_malloc(new_size);
}
/*
* @brief Release a kernel heap allocation, making it available for reuse.
*
* Delegates to @c kfree(), which coalesces the freed block with any free
* neighbors -- real reclamation, unlike this file's previous first-fit-
* no-splitting free list (FABRIC-3.md §X.4: that lack of coalescing was
* the proximate cause of a live-observed allocation failure under
* concurrent VM churn even with more than enough free bytes overall).
*
* @param ptr Pointer previously returned by @c sf_malloc() / @c sf_calloc()
* (may be @c NULL; silently ignored, matching @c kfree()'s own
* contract). Must not be used again by the caller after this
* call, and must not be freed twice.
*/
void sf_free(void* ptr)
{
if (!ptr) return;
kfree(ptr);
g_free_count++;
}
/*
* @brief Retrieve a snapshot of kernel allocator statistics.
*
* Reads fresh from `kmalloc_get_stats()` on every call -- the shared heap
* is the real source of truth, not a value shadowed locally. alloc_count/
* free_count (which kmalloc.c does not track) come from this file's own
* counters instead.
*
* @param stats Output buffer to receive the statistics; silently returns
* without writing if @p stats is @c NULL.
*/
void sf_alloc_get_stats(sf_alloc_stats_t* stats)
{
if (!stats) return;
kmalloc_stats_t k = kmalloc_get_stats();
stats->total_bytes = (size_t)k.total_bytes;
stats->used_bytes = (size_t)k.used_bytes;
stats->peak_bytes = (size_t)k.peak_bytes;
stats->alloc_count = g_alloc_count;
stats->free_count = g_free_count;
}