A few days ago I opened
https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/47309<https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/47309#issuecomment-3196114599>
where it was suggested that I bring this question to the mailing list:
Given that jemalloc development has
stopped<https://jasone.github.io/2025/06/12/jemalloc-postmortem/> and the repo
is archived<https://github.com/jemalloc/jemalloc> I wonder if Arrow should
consider removing that support as well. Arrow has already moved to mimalloc as
the default allocator, and there are a number of open issues that link back to
jemalloc issues (I was brought here from a comment on
#44342<https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/44342>). It might help reduce
some noise on this repo's issue tracker to remove jemalloc support altogether.
I don't know if there is a desire to support any particular system where
jemalloc is still preferred, though. If so, then delaying jemalloc support
removal could make sense too. Just thought I'd raise the issue.
If developers would prefer to keep jemalloc support in Arrow until someone
finds an intractable issue to resolve, that would be fine. I have seen enough
other jemalloc-related issues on the issue board to suggest that there are
sufficient edge cases to consider remove jemalloc as an option regardless,
though. Given that jemalloc is no longer the default in Arrow, I would not be
surprised to see bit rot in jemalloc support going unnoticed for multiple
releases, and it could be worth nipping that in the bud.
