[SOLVED] C malloc() runtime assertion problems (gcc v4.4.5, target: x86_68-linux-gnu)

Snark1994 · 12-22-2010, 04:03 PM

Hello all,

I had a C programme which was throwing strange errors at runtime - the smallest example which I have found to throw this error is as follows:

Code:

#include <stdlib.h>

int main(){
	unsigned short int* myIntArray;
	myIntArray = malloc(sizeof(unsigned short int)*200);
	int d;
	for(d=0;d<sizeof(unsigned short int)*103;d++){  // ***
		myIntArray[d] = 0;
	}
	
	char* myCharArray;
	myCharArray = malloc(sizeof(char)*2); //Error thrown by this line
	return 0;
}

The error says:

Code:

mallocErroc: malloc.c:3096: sYSMALLOc: Assertion `(old_top == (((mbinptr) (((char *) &((av)->bins[((1) - 1) * 2])) - __builtin_offsetof
 (struct malloc_chunk, fd)))) && old_size == 0) || ((unsigned long) (old_size) >= (unsigned long)((((__builtin_offsetof (struct malloc_chunk, 
fd_nextsize))+((2 * (sizeof(size_t))) - 1)) & ~((2 * (sizeof(size_t))) - 1))) && ((old_top)->size & 0x1) && ((unsigned long)old_end & pagemask) == 
0)' failed.
[1]    19239 abort      ./mallocErroc

The strange thing is, if I change the line marked *** to:

Code:

for(d=0;d<sizeof(unsigned short int)*102;d++){

then no error is thrown. Using gdb, I've looked at the memory at myIntArray[101], myIntArray[102], myIntArray[103] and myIntArray[104], and all of them are 0. My guess is I'm missing something in the code which results in me writing off the end of myIntArray, but I can't see what it is for the life of me...

Thanks in advance

ntubski · 12-22-2010, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snark1994

My guess is I'm missing something in the code which results in me writing off the end of myIntArray

Remember that when indexing arrays, the index refers to element number, not byte number: myIntArray has 200 shorts, but d goes up to 206.

Code:

    for (d = 0; d < 200; d++)  // OK
       myIntArray[d] = 0;

    for (d = 0; d < 200*sizeof(short); d++) // OK
       ((char*)myIntArray)[d] = 0;

Sergei Steshenko · 12-22-2010, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntubski

Remember that when indexing arrays, the index refers to element number, not byte number: myIntArray has 200 shorts, but d goes up to 206.

Code:

    for (d = 0; d < 200; d++)  // OK
       myIntArray[d] = 0;

    for (d = 0; d < 200*sizeof(short); d++) // OK
       ((char*)myIntArray)[d] = 0;

Good style is not to use literal numbers, but rather to act according to http://c-faq.com/aryptr/arraynels.html .

Snark1994 · 12-23-2010, 05:18 AM

Thank you very much, ntubski

I had thought that array[5] accessed the 5th byte after array, not the 5th element after array. And thanks for the tip Sergei; I've come from a python/java-ey background and this is my first real experience with low-level languages, so I appreciate the help

Sergei Steshenko · 12-23-2010, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snark1994

... I've come from a python/java-ey background and this is my first real experience with low-level languages, so I appreciate the help

Well, then I'd highly recommend to read about CPP ("C" preprocessor): http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/ .

Snark1994 · 12-24-2010, 12:12 AM

Ah, thanks again