boost::object_pool on custom memory heap

Question

I would like to create an object pool but I want it to allocate memory on only a specific segment of my memory heap. Is there any way to do so using boost ?

Answer 1

Boost.Pool's object_pool allows the user to control the memory used by the pool by providing a UserAllocator. Per the documentation:

Pool objects need to request memory blocks from the system, which the Pool then splits into chunks to allocate to the user. By specifying a UserAllocator template parameter to various Pool interfaces, users can control how those system memory blocks are allocated.

Boost.Pool only provides basic allocators that use new/delete and malloc/free. However, if an allocator can be written to allocate in specific segments of the free store, then object_pool can be configured to do so as well. It may be necessary to check if the compiler and platform supports limiting allocations within the free store to a specific segment.

---

Here is a basic example where I have ignored some of the details to keep the example simple, and show how a type can meet the requirements for UserAllocator. In this example, boost::object_pool will use a custom allocator that uses pre-allocated static memory.

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/array.hpp>
#include <boost/pool/object_pool.hpp>

namespace detail {

/// @brief Pre-allocated managed memory block.
template <std::size_t N>
class arena
{
public:

  /// @brief Constructor.
  arena()
    : current_(&buffer_.front()), // Set current to start.
      end_(current_ + N)          // End sentinel.
  {
    std::cout << "arena memory range: "
              << static_cast<void*>(current_) << " - "
              << static_cast<const void*>(end_) << std::endl;
  }

  /// @brief Attempt to allocate memory from pre-allocated block.
  /// 
  /// @param n Count of bytes to allocate.
  ///
  /// @param Non-zero if allocation is succesfull.  Otherwise, zero. 
  char* allocate(std::size_t n)
  {
    // If there is no more memory, then return zero.
    if ((current_ + n) > end_) return 0;

    // Otherwise, return available memory and shift current.
    std::cout << "arena allocating: " 
              << static_cast<void*>(current_) << std::endl;
    char* ptr = current_;
    current_ += n;
    return ptr;
  }

  void deallocate(char* p, std::size_t n)
  {
    // ...
  }

private:

  /// @brief Block of memory used for allocations.
  boost::array<char, N> buffer_;

  /// @brief Pointer to current allocation.
  char* current_;

  //// @brief End pointer sentinel.
  const char* end_;
};

} // namespace detail

/// @brief Allocator that meets Boost.Pool's UserAllocator Concepts.
///        This allocator will allocate memory from a pre-allocated
///        block of static memory.  Each instance of the template is
///        considered to be its own unique allocator, and thus has its
///        own memory.  
template <std::size_t N>
class static_allocator
{
public:
  typedef std::size_t size_type;
  typedef std::ptrdiff_t difference_type;

  static char* malloc(const size_type n) { return arena_.allocate(n); }
  static void free(char* p)              { arena_.deallocate(p, 1);   }

private:
  static detail::arena<N> arena_;
};

template <std::size_t N>
detail::arena<N> static_allocator<N>::arena_;

/// @brief Helper type.
template <typename T, std::size_t N>
struct static_object_pool:
  boost::object_pool<T, static_allocator<N * sizeof(T)> >
{};

/// Mockup object.
class Foo {};

int main()
{
  static_object_pool<Foo, 128> pool;

  Foo* a = pool.malloc();
  std::cout << "a is at " << a << std::endl;
  Foo* b = pool.malloc();
  std::cout << "b is at " << b << " -- freeing b" << std::endl;
  pool.free(b);
  Foo* c = pool.malloc();
  std::cout << "c is at " << c << std::endl;
}

And the output:

arena memory range: 0x804b5a0 - 0x804b620
arena allocating: 0x804b5a0
a is at 0x804b5a0
b is at 0x804b5a4 -- freeing b
c is at 0x804b5a4

Note that each address returned from object_pool::malloc() is within the arena's memory range. Additionally, when b was freed via pool.free(b), the memory (0x804b5a4) was immediately reused by the pool upon next malloc() for c.