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1 | package Devel::Size; |
2 | |
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3 | use strict; |
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4 | use vars qw($VERSION @ISA @EXPORT @EXPORT_OK %EXPORT_TAGS $warn); |
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5 | |
6 | require Exporter; |
7 | require DynaLoader; |
8 | |
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9 | @ISA = qw(Exporter DynaLoader); |
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10 | |
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11 | # This allows declaration use Devel::Size ':all'; |
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12 | %EXPORT_TAGS = ( 'all' => [ qw( |
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13 | size total_size |
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14 | ) ] ); |
15 | |
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16 | @EXPORT_OK = ( @{ $EXPORT_TAGS{'all'} } ); |
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17 | |
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18 | @EXPORT = qw( ); |
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19 | $VERSION = '0.70'; |
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20 | |
21 | bootstrap Devel::Size $VERSION; |
22 | |
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23 | $warn = 1; |
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24 | |
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25 | 1; |
26 | __END__ |
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27 | |
28 | =head1 NAME |
29 | |
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30 | Devel::Size - Perl extension for finding the memory usage of Perl variables |
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31 | |
32 | =head1 SYNOPSIS |
33 | |
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34 | use Devel::Size qw(size total_size); |
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35 | |
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36 | my $size = size("A string"); |
37 | |
38 | my @foo = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); |
39 | my $other_size = size(\@foo); |
40 | |
41 | my $foo = {a => [1, 2, 3], |
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42 | b => {a => [1, 3, 4]} |
43 | }; |
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44 | my $total_size = total_size($foo); |
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45 | |
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46 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
47 | |
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48 | This module figures out the real size of Perl variables in bytes, as |
49 | accurately as possible. |
50 | |
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51 | Call functions with a reference to the variable you want the size |
52 | of. If the variable is a plain scalar it returns the size of |
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53 | this scalar. If the variable is a hash or an array, use a reference |
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54 | when calling. |
55 | |
56 | =head1 FUNCTIONS |
57 | |
58 | =head2 size($ref) |
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59 | |
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60 | The C<size> function returns the amount of memory the variable |
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61 | returns. If the variable is a hash or an array, it only reports |
62 | the amount used by the structure, I<not> the contents. |
63 | |
64 | =head2 total_size($ref) |
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65 | |
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66 | The C<total_size> function will traverse the variable and look |
67 | at the sizes of contents. Any references contained in the variable |
68 | will also be followed, so this function can be used to get the |
69 | total size of a multidimensional data structure. At the moment |
70 | there is no way to get the size of an array or a hash and its |
71 | elements without using this function. |
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72 | |
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73 | =head1 EXPORT |
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74 | |
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75 | None but default, but optionally C<size> and C<total_size>. |
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76 | |
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77 | =head1 UNDERSTANDING MEMORY ALLOCATION |
78 | |
79 | Please note that the following discussion of memory allocation in perl |
80 | is based on the perl 5.8.0 sources. While this is generally |
81 | applicable to all versions of perl, some of the gory details are |
82 | omitted. It also makes some presumptions on how your system memory |
83 | allocator works so, while it will be generally correct, it may not |
84 | exactly reflect your system. (Generally the only issue is the size of |
85 | the constant values we'll talk about, not their existence) |
86 | |
87 | =head2 The C library |
88 | |
89 | It's important firtst to understand how your OS and libraries handle |
90 | memory. When the perl interpreter needs some memory, it asks the C |
91 | runtime library for it, using the C<malloc()> call. C<malloc> has one |
92 | parameter, the size of the memory allocation you want, and returns a |
93 | pointer to that memory. C<malloc> also makes sure that the pointer it |
94 | returns to you is properly aligned. When you're done with the memory |
95 | you hand it back to the library with the C<free()> call. C<free> has |
96 | one parameter, the pointer that C<malloc> returned. There are a couple of interesting ramifications to this. |
97 | |
98 | Because malloc has to return an aligned pointer, it will round up the |
99 | memory allocation to make sure that the memory it returns is aligned |
100 | right. What that alignment is depends on your CPU, OS, and compiler |
101 | settings, but things are generally aligned to either a 4 or 8 byte |
102 | boundary. That means that if you ask for 1 byte, C<malloc> will |
103 | silently round up to either 4 or 8 bytes, though it doesn't tell the |
104 | program making the request, so the extra memory can't be used. |
105 | |
106 | Since C<free> isn't given the size of the memory chunk you're |
107 | freeing, it has to track it another way. Most libraries do this by |
108 | tacking on a length field just before the memory it hands to your |
109 | program. (It's put before the beginning rather than after the end |
110 | because it's less likely to get mangled by program bugs) This size |
111 | field is the size of your platform integer, Generally either 4 or 8 |
112 | bytes. |
113 | |
114 | So, if you asked for 1 byte, malloc would build something like this: |
115 | |
116 | +------------------+ |
117 | | 4 byte length | |
118 | +------------------+ <----- the pointer malloc returns |
119 | | your 1 byte | |
120 | +------------------+ |
121 | | 3 bytes padding | |
122 | +------------------+ |
123 | |
124 | As you can see, you asked for 1 byte but C<malloc> used 8. If your |
125 | integers were 8 bytes rather than 4, C<malloc> would have used 16 bytes |
126 | to satisfy your 1 byte request. |
127 | |
128 | The C memory allocation system also keeps a list of free memory |
129 | chunks, so it can recycle freed memory. For performance reasons, some |
130 | C memory allocation systems put a limit to the number of free |
131 | segments that are on the free list, or only search through a small |
132 | number of memory chunks waiting to be recycled before just |
133 | allocating more memory from the system. |
134 | |
135 | The memory allocation system tries to keep as few chunks on the free |
136 | list as possible. It does this by trying to notice if there are two |
137 | adjacent chunks of memory on the free list and, if there are, |
138 | coalescing them into a single larger chunk. This works pretty well, |
139 | but there are ways to have a lot of memory on the free list yet still |
140 | not have anything that can be allocated. If a program allocates one |
141 | million eight-byte chunks, for example, then frees every other chunk, |
142 | there will be four million bytes of memory on the free list, but none |
143 | of that memory can be handed out to satisfy a request for 10 |
144 | bytes. This is what's referred to as a fragmented free list, and can |
145 | be one reason why your program could have a lot of free memory yet |
146 | still not be able to allocate more, or have a huge process size and |
147 | still have almost no memory actually allocated to the program running. |
148 | |
149 | =head2 Perl |
150 | |
151 | Perl's memory allocation scheme is a bit convoluted, and more complex |
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152 | than can really be addressed here, but there is one common spot where Perl's |
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153 | memory allocation is unintuitive, and that's for hash keys. |
154 | |
155 | When you have a hash, each entry has a structure that points to the |
156 | key and the value for that entry. The value is just a pointer to the |
157 | scalar in the entry, and doesn't take up any special amount of |
158 | memory. The key structure holds the hash value for the key, the key |
159 | length, and the key string. (The entry and key structures are |
160 | separate so perl can potentially share keys across multiple hashes) |
161 | |
162 | The entry structure has three pointers in it, and takes up either 12 |
163 | or 24 bytes, depending on whether you're on a 32 bit or 64 bit |
164 | system. Since these structures are of fixed size, perl can keep a big |
165 | pool of them internally (generally called an arena) so it doesn't |
166 | have to allocate memory for each one. |
167 | |
168 | The key structure, though, is of variable length because the key |
169 | string is of variable length, so perl has to ask the system for a |
170 | memory allocation for each key. The base size of this structure is |
171 | 8 or 16 bytes (once again, depending on whether you're on a 32 bit or |
172 | 64 bit system) plus the string length plus two bytes. |
173 | |
174 | Since this memory has to be allocated from the system there's the |
175 | malloc size-field overhead (4 or 8 bytes) plus the alignment bytes (0 |
176 | to 7, depending on your system and the key length) |
177 | that get added on to the chunk perl requests. If the key is only 1 |
178 | character, and you're on a 32 bit system, the allocation will be 16 |
179 | bytes. If the key is 7 characters then the allocation is 24 bytes on |
180 | a 32 bit system. If you're on a 64 bit system the numbers get even |
181 | larger. |
182 | |
183 | This does mean that hashes eat up a I<lot> of memory, both in memory |
184 | Devel::Size can track (the memory actually in the structures and |
185 | strings) and that it can't (the malloc alignment and length overhead). |
186 | |
187 | =head1 DANGERS |
188 | |
189 | Devel::Size, because of the way it works, can consume a |
190 | considerable amount of memory as it runs. It will use five |
191 | pointers, two integers, and two bytes worth of storage, plus |
192 | potential alignment and bucket overhead, per thing it looks at. This |
193 | memory is released at the end, but it may fragment your free pool, |
194 | and will definitely expand your process' memory footprint. |
195 | |
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196 | =head1 Messages: texts originating from this module. |
197 | |
198 | =head2 Errors |
199 | |
200 | =over 4 |
201 | |
202 | =item "Devel::Size: Unknown variable type" |
203 | |
204 | The thing (or something contained within it) that you gave to |
205 | total_size() was unrecognisable as a Perl entity. |
206 | |
207 | =back |
208 | |
209 | =head2 warnings |
210 | |
211 | These messages warn you that for some types, the sizes calculated may not include |
212 | everything that could be associated with those types. The differences are usually |
213 | insignificant for most uses of this module. |
214 | |
215 | These may be disabled by setting |
216 | |
217 | $Devel::Size::warn = 0 |
218 | |
219 | =over 4 |
220 | |
221 | =item "Devel::Size: Calculated sizes for CVs are incomplete" |
222 | |
223 | =item "Devel::Size: Calculated sizes for FMs are incomplete" |
224 | |
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225 | =back |
226 | |
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227 | =head1 BUGS |
228 | |
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229 | Doesn't currently walk all the bits for code refs, formats, and |
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230 | IO. Those throw a warning, but a minimum size for them is returned. |
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231 | |
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232 | Devel::Size only counts the memory that perl actually allocates. It |
233 | doesn't count 'dark' memory--memory that is lost due to fragmented free lists, |
234 | allocation alignments, or C library overhead. |
235 | |
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236 | =head1 AUTHOR |
237 | |
238 | Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org |
239 | |
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240 | Small portion taken from the B module as shipped with perl 5.6.2. |
241 | |
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242 | Maintained now by Tels <http://bloodgate.com> |
243 | |
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244 | =head1 COPYRIGHT |
245 | |
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246 | Copyright (C) 2005 Dan Sugalski, Copyright (C) 2007 Tels |
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247 | |
248 | This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
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249 | under the same terms as Perl v5.8.8. |
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250 | |
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251 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
252 | |
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253 | perl(1), L<Devel::Size::Report>. |
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254 | |
255 | =cut |