Question

How to detect memory overrun in your 24/7 application, such as an online game server? The system and tool is linux + gcc.

Sometimes the cause of the memory overrun is writing the memory beyond the array; and sometimes the cause of the memory overrun is invalid pointers.

So, does anyone have some experience with this and know how to prevent it?

Answer 1

Prevention (at code level):

• Watch out the warnings of your compiler
• Use a static code checker
• Use strong coding guidelines

Detection (at run-time):

• Use tools like valgrind, efence, … to analyse the behaviour of your program