>> I'm using valgrind 3.8.0.SVN from MacPorts on Mac OS X 10.7.4.
>> valgrind is showing a memory leak of 18 bytes when I try to allocate
>> an empty array using posix_memalign.  The leak warning is attached.
>>
>> The posix_memalign call is
>>
>>     void* data;
>>     const size_t alignment = max(sizeof(T),sizeof(void*));
>>     if (posix_memalign(&data,alignment,sizeof(T)*size))
>>         throw bad_alloc();
>>
>> where sizeof(T)==64 and size==0.  I've confirmed that I call free on
>> the same pointer.  If I replace the code with
>>
>>     void* data = malloc(sizeof(T)*size);
>>
>> the leak warning goes away.  Any idea what could be going wrong?

There is a dispute about the meaning of memory allocation when
the requested size is 0.  The recipient must not access any memory
there; after all, the requested size is zero.  Also, NULL strings
occur *everywhere*, so *any* address ought to be satisfactory
for a zero-length block.

However, some users were in the habit of using malloc(0) as an
implementation of the LISP (gensym).  The standard grudgingly
accommodated those users.  That was a mistake.  The result is
that most implementations allocate 1 byte when you ask for zero.

-- 


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