Mpatrol

Mpatrol is a library that helps you debug your programs by finding errors linked to how you use memory. It’s especially useful for catching mistakes when you work with dynamically allocated memory. Think of it as a malloc() debugger! It can trace and profile calls to both malloc() and free(). But hey, if you’re not familiar with what these functions do, this might not be the right tool for you. You’ll need some programming know-how and be comfortable using a command line compiler.

Features of Mpatrol

This library gives you a detailed log of all dynamic memory actions that happen while your program runs. Not only does it check for any mistakes with how memory is used, but it also makes it easy to add to your current codebase—just include one header file when you compile! If you're on UNIX or Windows (or even AmigaOS with GCC), you might not even have to change your code much because Mpatrol can link with existing files at link-time or even dynamically during runtime!

Logging and Tracing Output

All the logs and tracing info from Mpatrol go into a separate log file. This keeps its diagnostics clear from any output your main program might produce. Plus, there are lots of settings in the library that you can adjust while your program runs without needing to recompile or relink.

Memory Allocation Profiling

Mpatrol can create a file summarizing memory allocation stats for your program. You can use this file with profiling tools that will show tables based on the data collected. The profiling info includes summaries of all memory allocations by size, details about which function made them, and even lists memory leaks along with their call stack.

Trace Files

You can also get a compact trace file showing all memory allocations and deallocations made by your program through Mpatrol. This file can be processed by tracing tools to display events either in tables or graphs, along with relevant stats.

Integrating Mpatrol into Your Code

The goal of Mpatrol is to replace standard C/C++ memory allocation calls easily, but sometimes a little code tweak may be needed. No worries though! A preprocessor macro is there to help automate the process so that both release builds and debug builds run smoothly.

If you're interested in giving Mpatrol a try for debugging your programs, check it out here: Mpatrol Download.