20 General utilities library [utilities]

20.10 Memory [memory]

20.10.4 Pointer safety [util.dynamic.safety]

A complete object is declared reachable while the number of calls to declare_reachable with an argument referencing the object exceeds the number of calls to undeclare_reachable with an argument referencing the object.

void declare_reachable(void* p);

Requires: p shall be a safely-derived pointer ([basic.stc.dynamic.safety]) or a null pointer value.

Effects: If p is not null, the complete object referenced by p is subsequently declared reachable ([basic.stc.dynamic.safety]).

Throws: May throw bad_alloc if the system cannot allocate additional memory that may be required to track objects declared reachable.

template <class T> T* undeclare_reachable(T* p);

Requires: If p is not null, the complete object referenced by p shall have been previously declared reachable, and shall be live ([basic.life]) from the time of the call until the last undeclare_reachable(p) call on the object.

Returns: A safely derived copy of p which shall compare equal to p.

Throws: Nothing.

Note: It is expected that calls to declare_reachable(p) will consume a small amount of memory in addition to that occupied by the referenced object until the matching call to undeclare_reachable(p) is encountered. Long running programs should arrange that calls are matched.  — end note ]

void declare_no_pointers(char* p, size_t n);

Requires: No bytes in the specified range are currently registered with declare_no_pointers(). If the specified range is in an allocated object, then it must be entirely within a single allocated object. The object must be live until the corresponding undeclare_no_pointers() call. [ Note: In a garbage-collecting implementation, the fact that a region in an object is registered with declare_no_pointers() should not prevent the object from being collected.  — end note ]

Effects: The n bytes starting at p no longer contain traceable pointer locations, independent of their type. Hence indirection through a pointer located there is undefined if the object it points to was created by global operator new and not previously declared reachable. [ Note: This may be used to inform a garbage collector or leak detector that this region of memory need not be traced.  — end note ]

Throws: Nothing.

Note: Under some conditions implementations may need to allocate memory. However, the request can be ignored if memory allocation fails.  — end note ]

void undeclare_no_pointers(char* p, size_t n);

Requires: The same range must previously have been passed to declare_no_pointers().

Effects: Unregisters a range registered with declare_no_pointers() for destruction. It must be called before the lifetime of the object ends.

Throws: Nothing.

pointer_safety get_pointer_safety() noexcept;

Returns: pointer_safety::strict if the implementation has strict pointer safety ([basic.stc.dynamic.safety]). It is implementation-defined whether get_pointer_safety returns pointer_safety::relaxed or pointer_safety::preferred if the implementation has relaxed pointer safety.222

pointer_safety::preferred might be returned to indicate that a leak detector is running so that the program can avoid spurious leak reports.