Question

Are there any good Linux tools around to debug the memory usage of a C/C++ code? I find it very hard to figure out, in complex codes, which objects are responsible for the main memory usage.

Answer 1

What you are looking for is massif :

Massif is a heap profiler. It performs detailed heap profiling by taking regular snapshots of a program’s heap. It produces a graph showing heap usage over time, including information about which parts of the program are responsible for the most memory allocations. The graph is supplemented by a text or HTML file that includes more information for determining where the most memory is being allocated. Massif runs programs about 20x slower than normal.