Date: Tue, 6 Feb 1996 17:25:37 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Andras Solyom <solyom AT eik DOT bme DOT hu>
Cc: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Re: malloc/free ends up fragmenting dynamic memory?


On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Andras Solyom wrote:

> DJ's answer:
> 
> >Amazingly enough, it's not gnu's malloc.  Their malloc defrags as it
> >goes (at least, if it sees adjacent free blocks).  DJGPP Uses a BSD
> >malloc.
> >
> I did not know that. If I recall correctly the reason to select the current
> type of malloc in DJGPP was that it goes well with virtual memory. Is it not

The problem with GNU malloc (as with any piece of GNU software) is that 
if you use it in a program you must abide by the GNU Library General 
Public License, which in a nutshell says that you must make the entire 
source of your program available together with the program itself.  Many 
commercial firms see this as an obstacle.  The DJGPP C library is *free*.
(Note that the C++ library is still from GNU, so it's subject to LGPL; 
see the DJGPP FAQ list for details.)  I'd imagine that this is the single 
most important factor in DJ's decision not to use GNU malloc.  BSD 
library, on the other hand, is (for all practical purposes) free.