[Python-Dev] Problem with the memory docs (original) (raw)

Tim Peters tim.one@comcast.net
Fri, 05 Apr 2002 01:45:09 -0500

Sorry, but this is nuts, and Martin is right that I don't want Python to offer a "malloc wrapper" that doesn't meet the standard rules for malloc. Instead I intend to change the docs to say that PyMalloc(0) acts like platform malloc(1), and leave it at that.

[martin@v.loewis.de]

That, OTOH, is not what Guido wants it to be. Guido wants PyMalloc to return 0 only in case of failure; allocating 0 bytes should "normally" succeed. I still cannot see what problems you have with this requirement.

I'm not following this at all. Calling malloc(1) does exactly what Guido wants. "malloc(1)" isn't a broken Unix manpage reference, if that's how you're reading it; it means call malloc with an argument of 1.