On Sun, Sep 22, 2024 at 08:07:54PM +0200, Страхиња Радић wrote:
> Дана 24/09/22 07:59PM, Страхиња Радић написа:
> > Of course, that would cause a memory leak if the memory was assigned to
> > a variable, like this:
> >
> > char* tmp = malloc(13);
> >
> > otherwise, like this:
> >
> > malloc(13);
> >
> > the result is discarded and a warning is printed if the program is
> > compiled by GCC.
>
> Correction/clarification: even if the result is discarded, this still
> causes the leak, just the pointer to the allocated memory is not
> assigned to a variable. This is easily verifiable by using
> ktrace(1)/kdump(1).
>
All correct, but still, on process exit all resources used by a
program are cleaned up. In that sense it is not a memory leak to not
call free. Especially for one-time allocations.
It is differrent if the malloc is e.g. in a loop, causing memory usage
to grow while executing the program. That is a memory leak you want to
fix, especially if the program is a long running one, like a daemon.
-Otto
