How to know if malloc.h is available?

Hi,
is there a way to know if the header file malloc.h is available?
I mean, is there some cpp macro to test, like for example
macros defined in standards or specifications like SVID, XPG,
POSIX,...
or unix flavour like __sun?
I have this piece of code:

#if defined (__sun) || defined (__i386) || defined (__ia64)
#include <malloc.h>
#define HAVE_MALLINFO
#endif

It compiles on linux (x86, x86_64 and itanium) and on Solaris (SPARC)
but it doesn't compile on Mac OS X (x86), where the compiler (gcc from
XCode 3.1.1) can't find malloc.h .
Now, I'm pretty new with Mac but I think the test above should make
use of "more portable" macros.

Thanks for your help.

On November 19, 2008 15:40, in comp.unix.programmer,  XXXX@XXXXX.COM 



[snip]

Well, that's the cannonical test for whether or not malloc.h is available to
the compiler.

Now, two things:
1) For the compiler to be /complete/, it /must/ include a malloc.h header.
So, go back and check the install for the compiler to see if it missed
something.

2) While there is no /requirement/ (at the C compiler level) that <malloc.h> 
actually be a file in your filesystem, most Unixish systems populate
the /usr/include directory with flat files for all the standard (C and
POSIX) headers. If there is a file for malloc.h, you'd find it there.



-- 
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576
 http://www.**--****.com/ | GPG public key available by request
----------      Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.          ------

On November 19, 2008 16:10, in comp.unix.programmer, Lew Pitcher





Oops... let me correct that. 
For the compiler to be complete, it must include malloc() and friends. The
header for the malloc() family of functions is <stdlib.h>, not <malloc.h>. 

-- 
Lew Pitcher

Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576
 http://www.**--****.com/ | GPG public key available by request
----------      Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing.          ------

Lew Pitcher < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > writes:






And Darwin (MacOSX) does have malloc() defined in stdlib.h, and also
has a /usr/include/malloc/malloc.h header file. 

Probably a throwback to its Mach roots. 

>1) For the compiler to be /complete/, it /must/ include a malloc.h header.

Incorrect.  Standard C makes no mention of such a header.
The correct header for malloc() and related functions is <stdlib.h>.

FreeBSD has an interesting <malloc.h> header, which suggests that
it's probably a bad idea to use <malloc.h>, and an even worse idea
to assume that its presence implies the existence of mallinfo():

/* $FreeBSD: src/include/malloc.h,v 1.5 2001/11/07 23:14:31 obrien Exp $ */
#if __STDC__
#error "<malloc.h> has been replaced by <stdlib.h>"
#else
#include <stdlib.h>
#endif

Thanks to everyone for the answers.
Probably I've been a little too short in my first message.

On the Mac OS X I installed all of the package XCode 3.1.1 from Apple
which provides
gcc 4.2 beside a lots of other development tools.
I think this is a /complete/ installation of the compiler and so of
the standard headers too.
The malloc.h is not an ISO C standard header so it's not part of the
compiler.
I think it should be provided by the system, for example the GNU C
Library provide a
malloc.h containing mallinfo . I can't find a usable malloc.h on the
Mac even though
there are 2 malloc.h in /usr/include (malloc/malloc.h and sys/
malloc.h) none
containing mallinfo.

Searching a bit on the net I found that mallinfo should be provided by
SVID/XPG
compliant systems (GNU Lib C malloc.h and manual).
Under Solaris 8 mallinfo is in malloc.h and the man page for mallinfo
says that
prototypes for malloc(), calloc(), realloc() and free() are also
provided in malloc.h
for compatibility with old applications, but new application should
include
<stdlib.h> which has no mallinfo.
The SVID 4th edition ( http://www.**--****.com/ ) says
that it's use
is deprecated because it would be removed in later version of the
definition (probably
for ISO C compatibility).
I'm not an expert about unix standards and definitions but I'm
wondering if
there exist some ccp macro like _XOPEN_*, _XPG_*, _POSIX_* or the like
to test for checking the availability of malloc.h/mallinfo .

The one platform where you need malloc.h is Windows (yes, I know the 
name of this newsgroup but still, many people need Windows portability). 
So I would think that

#ifdef _WIN32
#include <malloc.h>
#endif

would be sufficient and appropriate. That's what I do.

Regarding mallinfo, that's more complex. Maybe you could just declare it 
yourself.

AS

Thanks a lot!


OK, this was clear to me. My previous message can be confusing,
I wrote it in a hurry... I apologize.


This is the point! I'm looking for a cpp macro that can detect
whether the system is SVID compliant or, the other way round,
that can detect a system based on BSD like Mac OS X, which
is supposed not to have malloc.h/mallinfo.
I'm not looking necessarily for a macro specific to malloc.h/mallinfo.
This was what I meant with "more portable" in my first message.
The way it is now seems not to work with system based on BSD
on i386/ia64 platforms.

Thanks for the hints about __SVR4. I'm going to investigate if
it is what I need.


I agree! Tools like autoconf really simplify your life,
but the code I'm talking about doesn't use such tools.
Believe me or not, it hasn't even a makefile!
It's a single monolitic source file, 1.6 MB - 60000 lines
of C code!


I already bypassed the problem and compiled the program, simply
commenting out the inclusion of malloc.h and the definition
of HAVE_MALLINFO. It works fine.
But I'm looking for a definitive solution to give some feedback to the
maintainer.

Thanks a lot again!