Buddy system allocator?

[Richard Minner]

>From Doug Gwyn:
|In article <1175 at svx.SV.DG.COM> gary at svx.SV.DG.COM () writes:
|>The correct answer is "malloc/free is somewhat broken in Sunos 4.0.1-3".
|>This has been mentioned before, in a Feb. Sun Spots article - here it is...
|
| That sounds more like a "buddy system" allocator working normally.

I'll bite, how does a "buddy system" allocator work, normally?
I can imagine why free'd blocks might "shrink" a bit but I'd
appreciate an overview from someone who actually knows.  Also,
if such a system can normally produce what I consider to be
counter-intuitive results (and gary at svx.SV.DG.COM considers
"somewhat broken"), what are its advantages?

If it's overly complex, a good reference would be nice.
Thanks.


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