tiny garbage collector in C for embedded devices

Question

Is there some open source tiny GC implementation (preferably as one C source file)?

Answer 1

I've got some prototype code that might give you a head start. If all your pointers are "managed" through your interface, you can chop up a heap in any convenient way and use the classic algorithms from 70s dissertations. My adventures with a postscript garbage collector began here.

On reading through it again, the code may not be what you're looking for. It's designed to run on top of an OS. In particular, it uses relative integer locations as much as possible to allow the entire memory space to be moved by the OS if needed for a reallocation. I imagine you don't need to do that (although it guarantees that internal relocations are ok, too). But the code should show that a garbage collector doesn't have to be horribly complicated. It's just a tree traversal. It's futzing with some bits and following some pointers. Keep it simple. You can do it.

Answer 2

Google search provides tinygc.sourceforge.net :)