19.9 | Module `Gc`: memory management control and statistics; finalised values

    type stat = {
      minor_words : float;
      promoted_words : float;
      major_words : float;
      minor_collections : int;
      major_collections : int;
      heap_words : int;
      heap_chunks : int;
      live_words : int;
      live_blocks : int;
      free_words : int;
      free_blocks : int;
      largest_free : int;
      fragments : int;
      compactions : int;
    }

> The memory management counters are returned in a `stat` record. The fields of this record are:
> `minor_words` Number of words allocated in the minor heap since the program was started.
> `promoted_words` Number of words allocated in the minor heap that survived a minor collection and were moved to the major heap since the program was started.
> `major_words` Number of words allocated in the major heap, including the promoted words, since the program was started.
> `minor_collections` Number of minor collections since the program was started.
> `major_collections` Number of major collection cycles, not counting the current cycle, since the program was started.
> `heap_words` Total size of the major heap, in words.
> `heap_chunks` Number of times the major heap size was increased since the program was started (including the initial allocation of the heap).
> `live_words` Number of words of live data in the major heap, including the header words.
> `live_blocks` Number of live blocks in the major heap.
> `free_words` Number of words in the free list.
> `free_blocks` Number of blocks in the free list.
> `largest_free` Size (in words) of the largest block in the free list.
> `fragments` Number of wasted words due to fragmentation. These are 1-words free blocks placed between two live blocks. They cannot be inserted in the free list, thus they are not available for allocation.
> `compactions` Number of heap compactions since the program was started.
> The total amount of memory allocated by the program since it was started is (in words) `minor_words + major_words - promoted_words`. Multiply by the word size (4 on a 32-bit machine, 8 on a 64-bit machine) to get the number of bytes.

    type control = {
      mutable minor_heap_size : int;
      mutable major_heap_increment : int;
      mutable space_overhead : int;
      mutable verbose : int;
      mutable max_overhead : int;
      mutable stack_limit : int;
    }

> The GC parameters are given as a `control` record. The fields are:
> `minor_heap_size` The size (in words) of the minor heap. Changing this parameter will trigger a minor collection. Default: 32k.
> `major_heap_increment` The minimum number of words to add to the major heap when increasing it. Default: 62k.
> `space_overhead` The major GC speed is computed from this parameter. This is the memory that will be "wasted" because the GC does not immediatly collect unreachable blocks. It is expressed as a percentage of the memory used for live data. The GC will work more (use more CPU time and collect blocks more eagerly) if `space_overhead` is smaller. The computation of the GC speed assumes that the amount of live data is constant. Default: 42.
> `max_overhead` Heap compaction is triggered when the estimated amount of free memory is more than `max_overhead` percent of the amount of live data. If `max_overhead` is set to 0, heap compaction is triggered at the end of each major GC cycle (this setting is intended for testing purposes only). If `max_overhead >= 1000000`, compaction is never triggered. Default: 1000000.
> `verbose` This value controls the GC messages on standard error output. It is a sum of some of the following flags, to print messages on the corresponding events:
> `0x01` Start of major GC cycle.
> `0x02` Minor collection and major GC slice.
> `0x04` Growing and shrinking of the heap.
> `0x08` Resizing of stacks and memory manager tables.
> `0x10` Heap compaction.
> `0x20` Change of GC parameters.
> `0x40` Computation of major GC slice size.
> `0x80` Calling of finalisation functions.
> `0x100` Bytecode executable search at start-up. Default: 0.
> `stack_limit` The maximum size of the stack (in words). This is only relevant to the byte-code runtime, as the native code runtime uses the operating system's stack. Default: 256k.

    val stat : unit -> stat

> Return the current values of the memory management counters in a `stat` record.

    val counters : unit -> (float * float * float)

> Return `(minor_words, promoted_words, major_words)`. Much faster than `stat`.

    val get : unit -> control

> Return the current values of the GC parameters in a `control` record.

    val set : control -> unit

> `set r` changes the GC parameters according to the `control` record `r`. The normal usage is:
> `Gc.set { (Gc.get()) with Gc.verbose = 13 }`

    val minor : unit -> unit

> Trigger a minor collection.

    val major : unit -> unit

> Finish the current major collection cycle.

    val full_major : unit -> unit

> Finish the current major collection cycle and perform a complete new cycle. This will collect all currently unreachable blocks.

    val compact : unit -> unit = "gc_compaction";;

> Perform a full major collection and compact the heap. Note that heap compaction is a lengthy operation.

    val print_stat : out_channel -> unit

> Print the current values of the memory management counters (in human-readable form) into the channel argument.

    val allocated_bytes : unit -> float

> Return the total number of bytes allocated since the program was started. It is returned as a `float` to avoid overflow problems with `int` on 32-bit machines.

    val finalise : ('a -> unit) -> 'a -> unit;;

> `Gc.finalise f v` registers `f` as a finalisation function for `v`. `v` must be heap-allocated. `f` will be called with `v` as argument at some point between the first time `v` becomes unreachable and the time `v` is collected by the GC. Several functions can be registered for the same value, or even several instances of the same function. Each instance will be called once (or never, if the program terminates before the GC deallocates `v`).
> A number of pitfalls are associated with finalised values: finalisation functions are called asynchronously, sometimes even during the execution of other finalisation functions. In a multithreaded program, finalisation functions are called from any thread, thus they cannot not acquire any mutex.
> Anything reachable from the closure of finalisation functions is considered reachable, so the following code will not work:
> `let v = ... in Gc.finalise (fun x -> ...) v` Instead you should write:
> `let f = fun x -> ... ;; let v = ... in Gc.finalise f v`
> The `f` function can use all features of O'Caml, including assignments that make the value reachable again (indeed, the value is already reachable from the stack during the execution of the function). It can also loop forever (in this case, the other finalisation functions will be called during the execution of f). It can call `Gc.finalise` on `v` or other values to register other functions or even itself. It can raise an exception; in this case the exception will interrupt whatever the program was doing when the function was called.
> `Gc.finalise` will raise `Invalid_argument` if `v` is not heap-allocated. Some examples of values that are not heap-allocated are integers, constant constructors, booleans, the empty array, the empty list, the unit value. The exact list of what is heap-allocated or not is implementation-dependent. You should also be aware that some optimisations will duplicate some immutable values, especially floating-point numbers when stored into arrays, so they can be finalised and collected while another copy is still in use by the program.

    type alarm;;

> An alarm is a piece of data that calls a user function at the end of each major GC cycle. The following functions are provided to create and delete alarms.

    val create_alarm : (unit -> unit) -> alarm;;

> `create_alarm f` will arrange for f to be called at the end of each major GC cycle. A value of type `alarm` is returned that you can use to call `delete_alarm`.

    val delete_alarm : alarm -> unit;;

> `delete_alarm a` will stop the calls to the function associated to `a`. Calling `delete_alarm a` again has no effect.