Question

I have a question about malloc behavior.
There is 2 c file

myTools.c and mainFile.c

mainFile.c is =>

int main(){
    int i=1;
    char *request="blablabla"//vary in situation.Not static
    while(i==1)//forever Loop
    {
      ...
      strcpy(response,getFile(request));
      ...
    }
}

myTools.c is ==>

.
.//something else
.
char *getFile(char *request)
{
  char *retVal;
  ...//some tcp request
  retVal=malloc(strlen(buffer));
  strcpy(retVal,buffer);
  ..//some char array operations
  return retVal;    
}
.
.//something else
.

I cant found a way to free the retVal or i wonder that i need to free the retVal ?

It works on uClinux on an m68k embedded platform so memory is limited.

May it couse any memory problem or any memory starvation?

Or effects the program’s runtime behaviour?

Answer 1

You will leak memory every time getFile() is called.

One solution would be:

while(i==1)//forever Loop
{
  ...
  char* temp = getFile( request );

  strcpy(response,temp);

  free( temp );
  ...
}