This repository contains the TCMalloc C++ code.
TCMalloc is Google's customized implementation of C's malloc() and C++'s
operator new used for memory allocation within our C and C++ code. TCMalloc is
a fast, multi-threaded malloc implementation.
Bazel is the official build system for TCMalloc.
The TCMalloc Platforms Guide contains information on platform support for TCMalloc.
All users of TCMalloc should consult the following documentation resources:
- The TCMalloc Quickstart covers downloading, installing, building, and testing TCMalloc, including incorporating within your codebase.
- The TCMalloc Overview covers the basic architecture of TCMalloc, and how that may affect configuration choices.
- The TCMalloc Reference covers the C and C++ TCMalloc API endpoints.
More advanced usages of TCMalloc may find the following documentation useful:
- The TCMalloc Tuning Guide covers the configuration choices in more depth, and also illustrates other ways to customize TCMalloc.
- The TCMalloc Design Doc covers how TCMalloc works underneath the hood, and why certain design choices were made. Most developers will not need this level of implementation detail.
- The TCMalloc Compatibility Guide which documents our expectations for how our APIs are used.
- The history and differences between this repository and gperftools.
We've published several papers relating to TCMalloc optimizations:
- "Beyond malloc efficiency to fleet efficiency: a hugepage-aware memory allocator" (OSDI 2021) relating to the development and rollout of Temeraire, TCMalloc's hugepage-aware page heap implementation.
- "Adaptive Hugepage Subrelease for Non-moving Memory Allocators in Warehouse-Scale Computers" (ISMM 2021) relating to optimizations for releasing partial hugepages to the operating system.
- "Characterizing a Memory Allocator at Warehouse Scale" (ASPLOS 2024) relating to several optimizations developed since 2018.
The TCMalloc library is licensed under the terms of the Apache license. See LICENSE for more information.
Disclaimer: This is not an officially supported Google product.