Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ut-sally.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!ut-sally!jsq From: jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman) Newsgroups: mod.std.unix Subject: Re: Storage allocators Message-ID: <2608@ut-sally.UUCP> Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 18:45:14 EDT Article-I.D.: ut-sally.2608 Posted: Tue Aug 6 18:45:14 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 7-Aug-85 08:57:47 EDT References: <2561@ut-sally.UUCP> <2579@ut-sally.UUCP> <2590@ut-sally.UUCP> <2592@ut-sally.UUCP> Reply-To: std-unix@ut-sally.UUCP Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas Lines: 37 Approved: jsq@ut-sally.UUCP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Aug 85 01:11:53 PDT From: seismo!sun!guy (Guy Harris) To: cbosgd!std-c, ut-sally!std-unix Subject: Re: Storage allocators > Unix has long had an undocumented routine alloca(), which allocates > storage off the stack. This storage then goes away when the function > returns. *Some* UNIXes have had it. It was a PWB/UNIX invention, and wiggled its way into 4.xBSD; I don't remember it being in V7. > ...since C supports variables on the stack, so I doubt that there are many > machines which can't do alloca(), and for Unix, it comes down to > documenting something that has been there for a long time. If you said "I know that there are no machines which can't do 'alloca'", I'd be more in favor of this proposal. C supports variables on the stack, but that merely requires that you can allocate a stack frame on procedure entry, not that you can extend a stack frame during the execution of a procedure. I would not be willing to say that all machines with C implementations can do that. >From the standpoint of UNIX, it's not clear that it's something that's been there for a long time in *all* UNIXes. Guy Harris ------------------------------ Discussions-Of: UNIX standards, particularly the IEEE P1003 draft standard. Submissions-To: ut-sally!std-unix or std-unix@ut-sally.ARPA Comments-To: ut-sally!std-unix-request or std-unix-request@ut-sally.ARPA UUCP-Routes: {ihnp4,seismo,harvard,gatech}!ut-sally!std-unix Archives-In: ~ftp/pub/mod.std.unix on ut-sally.ARPA (soon sally.UTEXAS.EDU)