Life after free?
Conor P. Cahill
cpcahil at virtech.uucp
Sat Oct 6 05:01:52 AEST 1990
In article <1990Oct5.002416.3196 at nntp-server.caltech.edu> manning at nntp-server.caltech.edu (Evan Marshall Manning) writes:
>You're missing the point. Of course you can do what you like with your
>data. But when you free() it you return it to the OS. And anybody else
>can end up with your data when they next malloc().
Then it really doesn't matter whether or not free clears it since your
process will no longer have access to it once it is freed.
In this scenario, the key point is that free() releases the memory to the
OS (something that is not done by most implementations of free() today),
not the fact that the memory may be cleared.
--
Conor P. Cahill (703)430-9247 Virtual Technologies, Inc.,
uunet!virtech!cpcahil 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160
Sterling, VA 22170
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