Very Computer

Hi everyone,

I'd like to know how does the shell allocate the environment variable. I'm
quite sure it allocates memory dynamically, but if such is the case, I'd
like to know how exactly does it do it. Does it use malloc, or some other
internal allocator?

The reason for my question is that I read in the man page of malloc that
"Recent  versions of Linux libc (later than 5.4.23) and GNU libc (2.x)
include a malloc implementation which  is  tun-able  via  environment
variables." If that is the case, isn't there some kind of a loop? I mean, it
seems that malloc cannot exist without environment variables, and
environment variables cannot exist without malloc. How is this actually
solved?

Thanks,

Carlos B.

|The reason for my question is that I read in the man page of malloc that
|"Recent  versions of Linux libc (later than 5.4.23) and GNU libc (2.x)
|include a malloc implementation which  is  tun-able  via  environment
|variables." If that is the case, isn't there some kind of a loop? I mean, it
|seems that malloc cannot exist without environment variables, and
|environment variables cannot exist without malloc. How is this actually
|solved?

Where's the loop? If you don't set any of the controling environment
variables, malloc will probably do something reasonable by default. Just
because the environment variable isn't set doesn't mean malloc can't
run.