Mail Archives: djgpp/1996/02/06/10:40:18
On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Andras Solyom wrote:
> DJ's answer:
>
> >Amazingly enough, it's not gnu's malloc. Their malloc defrags as it
> >goes (at least, if it sees adjacent free blocks). DJGPP Uses a BSD
> >malloc.
> >
> I did not know that. If I recall correctly the reason to select the current
> type of malloc in DJGPP was that it goes well with virtual memory. Is it not
The problem with GNU malloc (as with any piece of GNU software) is that
if you use it in a program you must abide by the GNU Library General
Public License, which in a nutshell says that you must make the entire
source of your program available together with the program itself. Many
commercial firms see this as an obstacle. The DJGPP C library is *free*.
(Note that the C++ library is still from GNU, so it's subject to LGPL;
see the DJGPP FAQ list for details.) I'd imagine that this is the single
most important factor in DJ's decision not to use GNU malloc. BSD
library, on the other hand, is (for all practical purposes) free.
- Raw text -