CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cvisual-studiomemory-leaksstack-overflow
bouvett
bouvett

Reputation: 11

Classical Stack Overflowing?

I am new to this forum and I am still an amateur in programming languages so please be kind with any of my silly mistakes :p

I am programming a recursive function which builds a kd-tree for a search process. I am using the c language on Visual Studio '08. After some seconds of processing, the program execution halts due to an error namely:

Unhandled exception at 0x77063de7 in run_FAST_corner_detection.exe: 0xC00000FD: Stack overflow

Now when the code breaks, there is a green arrow just near the instruction:

kd_node = malloc(sizeof(struct kd_node));
//this function allocates a pointer to a reserved memory of size struct kd_node.

Is this the classical problem of running out of memory? How can I monitor the stack memory? (I know that this question has been asked repeatedly but honestly I have yet found no good method to do this).

Upvotes: 1

Views: 162

Answers (2)

ams
ams

Reputation: 25599

To monitor stack usage, simply take the address of any local variable (one defined within a function), and compare it against the address of a local variable in your main function (or thread entry function):

int stack_bottom;

int stack-usage () {
  int top = 0;

  /* Note, stack grows downward through memory, so high - low is .. */
  return stack_bottom - (int)⊤
}

....

int main () {
  int bottom = 0;

  stack_bottom = (int)⊥

  ....
}

To reduce stack usage, either limit recursion, or avoid using large local variables (such as structs, arrays) and don't use alloca. You can replace large local variable with pointers to dynamically allocated heap memory (but don't forget to free it!)

Upvotes: 1

smichak
smichak

Reputation: 4958

Well, the stack overflow might be due to you calling malloc while deep in the recursion. The call to malloc pushes the return address and perhaps even parameters on the stack and this might be the thing which causes the stack to overflow. Don't do recursions in your code - try to make the code iterative (with loops instead). This is especially true for when the recursion is not bounded.

Upvotes: 1

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