Tuning the allocator

Occasionally, application-driven data structures have a specific size, and memory usage can be greatly improved by customizing block sizes. In this case, you either have to write your own allocator, or contact QNX Software Systems to obtain a customizable allocator.

In the Memory Analysis editor, you can examine the Bins tab and use its data to estimate the benefits of custom block sizes. Then, in the launch configuration, enter these block sizes in the Bins counters field under Memory Snapshots. When you run the application, you can examine the Bins tab again, which now shows the distribution of heap objects in the customized but imaginary blocks. The blocks are "imaginary" because the allocator doesn't actually use that size range in allocations. However, the data gives you an idea of what block sizes would be suitable for optimizing the heap usage.