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Performance of the Darwin 6.6 Libc malloc()

Sparked by the discussions a couple months ago on the "faster malloc
implementation" thread, a comparative analysis of the Darwin 6.6 Libc
malloc implementation has been put together. The memory test was run on a
Ti notebook running Mac OS X and Yellow Dog Linux. The same test was also
run on a Xeon and IRIX server for comparison and reference. In short,
there are definately issues and cause for concern with the present Darwin
implementation; there were several surprises found, both good and bad.

Hopefully, things may be changing significantly with Darwin 7.0 given the
possible availability of another better-performing malloc implementation.
This hope is based on the SPEC benchmark reports released for the new G5
chips (that reportedly used a fast malloc implementation that will be
available in 10.3). Or perhaps this report will spark an increased
concern and demand for a better malloc implementation.

Either way, I'm providing the entire analysis, source code, log files, and
graphs for all to see and review. This analysis is intended to test a
very simple and specific domain of malloc performance behaviors. The
report provides all of the details.

http://intelligentcode.com/memoryTest/ [main]
http://homepage.mac.com/brlcad/memoryTest/ [mirror]

If people are encouraged to run the memory test on their own systems,
especially other Unix-based systems, I would love to receive a copy of the
logs and detailed machine specs. Please provide any feedback, questions,
or criticisms directly to me.

Cheers!
Sean Morrison
email@hidden
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