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c++c++11memory-managementembeddedbare-metal

Bare metal without global operator new


Consider safety software, where dynamic allocation in general is disallowed and exceptions are disallowed. Dynamic allocation is allowed only when class explicity defines operator new and delete. Using operator new for others class should cause compilation failure.

The simplest way to cause compilation failure in described situation is to remove global new operator:

void* operator new(std::size_t) = delete;

On the one hand this cause side effects with standard library. For example including <array> propagates inclusion to <new_allocator> by <stdexcept>. <new_allocator> uses ::new operator and this cause build fail even when You don't want to use exception and memory allocation. According to Scoot Meyers <array> should be bare metal friendly.

On the other hand this cause error with compiler built-in operator

src/main.cpp:91:31: error: deleted definition of 'void* operator new(std::size_t)'
 void* operator new(std::size_t) = delete;                               ^
<built-in>: note: previous declaration of 'void* operator new(std::size_t)'

Is there any solution to ban ::new and use <array>?

Is there any solution to ban ::new globally at all?


Solution

  • If you use GCC and GNU LD, then I think you can just add --wrap=malloc to your linker flags. As global ::new uses malloc() internally, all calls to malloc() in your application will be replaced with __wrap_malloc(). If this function is undefined, then the linking will fail.

    Another, possibly simpler option, is to add ASSERT(DEFINED(malloc) == 0, "Dynamic allocation used!"); to your linker script. This will assert that malloc() is not defined.

    Neither of these options protect you from redefining global ::new to use some other form of global allocation. You could do the same for global symbol ::new in the linker script, but its name is mangled (in here _Znwj), so this will be a little strange...