Re: fancy GC question

[Xavier Leroy <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>]

> When I allocate an integer array in OCaml, which is always boxed, both
> the pointers to and the elements are obviously contiguous in memory.
> One could exploit this in C-interfaces under the restriction that the
> array is never changed by the OCaml-runtime, e.g.:
> 
>   int *ar = (int *) &Field(v_ar, 0);
> 
> And then one can read/write directly into the integer array without
> having to follow an indirection (an intermediate pointer) by treating
> "ar" as a normal C array.
> 
> But is this really always safe if only C writes to the array?

It is safe if the C code does not perform any allocation in the Caml
heap while it is using the "ar" pointer.  An allocation can trigger a
garbage collection, which can move the Caml block denoted by "v_ar";
after this, the "ar" pointer no longer points inside the block!

(If "v_ar" is registered as a local root with the garbage collector,
its value will be updated after the GC to reflect the new address of
the block; however, the GC has no mechanism for updating derived
pointers such as "ar" in your example.)

But, yes, this is a safe trick to use in e.g. a tight loop that does
not allocate in the Caml heap.

> Can other effects mess up the
> fact that the pointers map continuously on a contiguous chunk of memory
> (of integers)?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but the various "fields" of a
Caml block (as accessed with the Field macro) are always contiguous in
memory.

- Xavier Leroy