Allocator Spec

Overview

The Allocator module provides a unified memory allocation interface. The allocation backend is selected at compile time.

Interfaces

uvhttp_alloc

• Signature: void* uvhttp_alloc(size_t size)
• Purpose: Allocate memory
• Preconditions: size > 0
• Returns: Pointer to allocated memory, or NULL on failure.
• Thread safety: Depends on backend (system allocator is thread-safe).

uvhttp_free

• Signature: void uvhttp_free(void* ptr)
• Purpose: Free allocated memory
• Preconditions: ptr must be from uvhttp_alloc, uvhttp_calloc, or uvhttp_realloc. Can be NULL (no-op).
• Thread safety: Depends on backend.

uvhttp_realloc

• Signature: void* uvhttp_realloc(void* ptr, size_t size)
• Purpose: Reallocate memory
• Preconditions: ptr must be from a previous allocation. Can be NULL (equivalent to alloc).
• Returns: Pointer to reallocated memory, or NULL on failure.
• Thread safety: Depends on backend.

uvhttp_calloc

• Signature: void* uvhttp_calloc(size_t nmemb, size_t size)
• Purpose: Allocate and zero-initialize memory
• Preconditions: nmemb * size > 0
• Returns: Pointer to zero-initialized memory, or NULL on failure.
• Thread safety: Depends on backend.

uvhttp_allocator_name

• Signature: const char* uvhttp_allocator_name(void)
• Purpose: Get the name of the current allocator backend
• Returns: "system", "mimalloc", or "custom".
• Thread safety: Thread-safe.

Backends

Type	Value	Description
System	0	Standard malloc/free
mimalloc	1	Microsoft mimalloc
Custom	2	User-provided allocator

Behavior Rules

1. Rule 1: Never mix allocators. Memory allocated with uvhttp_alloc must be freed with uvhttp_free.

2. Rule 2: Always check allocation results. NULL means out of memory.

3. Rule 3: Every allocation must have a matching free. No leaks.

4. Rule 4: NULL can be passed to uvhttp_free safely (no-op).

Test Requirements

• Basic allocation and free
• Zero-size allocation
• Large allocation
• Reallocation
• Calloc zero-initialization
• NULL free (no-op)
• Allocator name retrieval
• No leaks under ASan