C Garbage Collector

This project implements a stop-the-world conservative garbage collector in C. The garbage collector uses a mark-and-sweep algorithm to manage memory allocation and deallocation.

Warning

This project uses the sbrk system call for memory management, which may not be compatible with the malloc function provided by the standard C library. Using sbrk and malloc together can lead to undefined behavior and memory corruption. It is recommended to avoid using malloc in conjunction with this garbage collector.

Algorithm

Stop-the-World Conservative GC

The garbage collector is a stop-the-world type, meaning that it halts the execution of the program to perform garbage collection. It is also conservative, which means it does not require precise information about the locations of all pointers. Instead, it scans memory regions that might contain pointers and treats any value that looks like a pointer as a potential reference to a heap object. It uses an explicit free list along with first fit allocation strategy to manage memory.

Mark-and-Sweep Algorithm

1. Mark Phase: The collector scans the stack and heap to find all reachable objects. It marks these objects to indicate that they are still in use.
2. Sweep Phase: The collector scans the heap again and collects all unmarked objects, returning their memory to the free list.

How to Run

1. Compile and Run the Project:

   make 

2. ** Clean the Project**:

   make clean

The Makefile provided in the project handles the compilation and execution of the program. The main program (main.c) includes a test function to demonstrate the garbage collector's functionality.

Files

1. main.c: Main program that demonstrates the garbage collector.
2. gc.c: Garbage collector implementation.
3. gc.h: Header file for the garbage collector.
4. Makefile: Makefile for compiling the project.
5. README.md: Project documentation.

Installation

To install the project, clone the repository and navigate to the project directory:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/c-gc.git
cd c-gc
make

Usage

To use the garbage collector in your own project, include gc.h and link against gc.c. Here is an example of how to integrate the garbage collector:

#include "gc.h"

int main() {
    int *allocated = gc_alloc(sizeof(int));
    gc(); // Run garbage collection
    gc_destroy();
    return 0;
}

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request with your changes. Ensure that your code follows the project's coding standards.