ocaml/stdlib/gc.mli

(***********************************************************************)
(*                                                                     *)
(*                         Caml Special Light                          *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*            Xavier Leroy, projet Cristal, INRIA Rocquencourt         *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*  Copyright 1995 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et   *)
(*  Automatique.  Distributed only by permission.                      *)
(*                                                                     *)
(***********************************************************************)

(* $Id$ *)

(* Module [Gc]: memory management control and statistics *)

type stat = {
  minor_words : int;
  promoted_words : int;
  major_words : int;
  minor_collections : int;
  major_collections : int;
  heap_words : int;
  heap_chunks : int;
  live_words : int;
  live_blocks : int;
  free_words : int;
  free_blocks : int;
  largest_free : int;
  fragments : int
}
  (* The memory management counters are returned in a [stat] record.
     All the numbers are computed since the start of the program.
     The fields of this record are:
-     [minor_words]  Number of words allocated in the minor heap.
-     [promoted_words] Number of words allocated in the minor heap that
             survived a minor collection and were moved to the major heap.
-     [major_words]  Number of words allocated in the major heap, including
             the promoted words.
-     [minor_collections]  Number of minor collections.
-     [major_collections]  Number of major collection cycles, not counting
             the current cycle.
-     [heap_words]  Total number of words in the major heap.
-     [heap_chunks]  Number of times the major heap size was increased.
-     [live_words]  Number of words of live data in the major heap, including
             the header words.
-     [live_blocks]  Number of live objects in the major heap.
-     [free_words]  Number of words in the free list.
-     [free_blocks]  Number of objects in the free list.
-     [largest_free]  Size (in words) of the largest object in the free list.
-     [fragments]  Number of wasted words due to fragmentation.  These are
             1-words free blocks placed between two live objects.  They
             cannot be inserted in the free list, thus they are not available
             for allocation.

     The total amount of memory allocated by the program is (in words)
     [minor_words + major_words - promoted_words].  Multiply by
     the word size (4 on a 32-bit machine, 8 on a 64-bit machine) to get
     the number of bytes.
  *)

type control = {
  mutable minor_heap_size : int;
  mutable major_heap_increment : int;
  mutable space_overhead : int;
  mutable verbose : bool
}

  (* The GC parameters are given as a [control] record.  The fields are:
-     [minor_heap_size]  The size (in words) of the minor heap.  Changing
             this parameter will trigger a minor collection.
-     [major_heap_increment]  The minimum number of words to add to the
             major heap when increasing it.
-     [space_overhead]  The major GC speed is computed from this parameter.
             This is the percentage of heap space that will be "wasted"
             because the GC does not immediatly collect unreachable
             objects.  The GC will work more (use more CPU time and collect
             objects more eagerly) if [space_overhead] is smaller.
             The computation of the GC speed assumes that the amount
             of live data is constant.
-     [verbose]  This flag controls the GC messages on standard error output.
  *)

external stat : unit -> stat = "gc_stat"
  (* Return the current values of the memory management counters in a
     [stat] record. *)
val print_stat : out_channel -> unit
  (* Print the current values of the memory management counters (in
     human-readable form) into the channel argument. *)
external get : unit -> control = "gc_get"
  (* Return the current values of the GC parameters in a [control] record. *)
external set : control -> unit = "gc_set"
  (* [set r] changes the GC parameters according to the [control] record [r].
     The normal usage is:
     [
       let r = Gc.get () in    (* Get the current parameters. *)
         r.verbose <- true;    (* Change some of them. *)
         Gc.set r              (* Set the new values. *)
     ]
  *)
external minor : unit -> unit = "gc_minor"
  (* Trigger a minor collection. *)
external major : unit -> unit = "gc_major"
  (* Finish the current major collection cycle. *)
external full_major : unit -> unit = "gc_full_major"
  (* Finish the current major collection cycle and perform a complete
     new cycle.  This will collect all currently unreachable objects. *)