Open-source alternatives to Mimalloc

This is an open-source, crowd-sourced wiki textbook that teaches Linux system programming in C. It covers the core operating system concepts of process management through the fork-exec-wait model, dynamic memory allocation using implicit free list heap allocators, inode-based file systems, inter-process communication via pipes and shared memory, POSIX threads with synchronization primitives, signal-based asynchronous notification, virtual memory with page table translation, and runtime diagnostics using Valgrind and GDB. The textbook distinguishes itself by providing practical, implementation

This project is a freestanding kernel written in Rust that boots on x86 hardware without a standard library. It serves as a low-level system implementation focusing on the creation of a bare metal operating system. The system implements a bootable disk image toolchain that transforms source code into binaries compatible with a bootloader. It features a custom memory allocator for dynamic memory management and an x86 kernel implementation that includes paging, interrupt handling, and VGA text mode. The project covers several core capability areas, including low-level memory management through

xv6 is a Unix-like educational operating system designed for teaching kernel concepts. It is implemented as an instructional kernel for x86 and RISC-V architectures, featuring a virtual memory manager and support for symmetric multiprocessing. The system is designed to demonstrate core OS principles through a simplified re-implementation of Unix Version 6. It provides a controlled environment for studying system calls, trap handling, and process lifecycles. Its capability surface covers process management, including scheduling and context switching, and memory management via page tables for

The Hoard Memory Allocator: A Fast, Scalable, and Memory-efficient Malloc for Linux, Windows, and Mac.

F Prime is a component-based framework designed for the development and deployment of embedded and spaceflight software. It provides a modular architecture that decouples software logic from communication interfaces, allowing developers to define system structures through a domain-specific modeling language. This model-based approach enables automated code generation, ensuring consistency across complex system topologies while maintaining strict interface contracts between software modules. The framework distinguishes itself through its integrated build system and ground data operations suite

JerryScript is a lightweight, ECMAScript-compliant JavaScript engine and bytecode compiler designed for resource-constrained devices. It serves as an embedded interpreter and IoT scripting runtime, enabling the execution of JavaScript code within native C applications on hardware with limited memory. The project differentiates itself through a focus on low-memory runtime management, utilizing bytecode precompilation and pre-compiled state snapshots to reduce startup time and memory overhead. It features a C-binding native bridge for bidirectional communication between native code and scripts,

This project is a bare-metal operating system developed for ARM64 architecture. It serves as a low-level implementation of kernel engineering, focusing on the fundamental construction of an OS from the hardware level up. The system is distinguished by its comprehensive approach to ARM64 processor control, featuring a red-black tree task scheduler and a hierarchical page table system for virtual memory management. It implements a sophisticated privilege model that handles transitions between kernel and user modes, ensuring process isolation through address space splitting and exception level m

gperftools is a collection of specialized tools for profiling CPU usage, detecting memory errors, and providing high-performance memory allocation. It provides a memory profiling toolkit for C++ applications, including a sampling CPU profiler and a heap profiler for analyzing consumption patterns. The project includes a high-performance memory allocator designed as a multi-threaded replacement for standard allocation to reduce contention and improve execution speed. It further provides a memory debugger to identify illegal memory access and double frees. The toolkit covers broad diagnostic c

NuttX is a POSIX-compliant real-time operating system designed for microcontrollers ranging from 8-bit to 64-bit architectures. It provides a deterministic execution environment with a real-time task scheduler and a POSIX embedded kernel to ensure portable code execution across diverse hardware targets. The project distinguishes itself through a comprehensive hardware abstraction layer that provides standardized drivers for I2C, SPI, CAN, and USB across various semiconductor chipsets. It also features an embedded networking stack supporting TCP, UDP, IPv4, and IPv6, alongside industrial proto

30dayMakeOS is an educational hobby operating system project designed for the x86 architecture. It implements a monolithic kernel and a custom bootloader that transitions the CPU from real mode to 32-bit protected mode to enable flat memory addressing. The project focuses on low-level system development, featuring a custom graphics driver for direct pixel-buffer rendering and window management without an existing operating system. It includes an x86 bootloader that loads the kernel from disk into memory. The system covers core kernel capabilities including round-robin task scheduling for pro

Luau is a high-performance programming language evolved from Lua 5.1. It consists of a bytecode virtual machine, an embeddable scripting engine, and a static code analyzer designed to provide a secure, sandboxed execution environment for host applications. The project is distinguished by its gradual typing system, which combines automatic type inference with optional manual annotations to detect bugs without requiring full static typing. It also features native vector mathematics for high-performance operations and a specialized debugging system that uses bytecode patching to minimize executi

CS-Xmind-Note is a collection of structured mind maps and conceptual diagrams serving as a comprehensive knowledge base for computer science fundamentals. It functions as an academic reference and study guide, organizing core subjects into a visual mapping of interdependent technical concepts. The project utilizes an XMind-compatible schema to model complex domains through hierarchical nodes and relational concept mapping. This approach allows for the visual representation of technical layers, linking hardware specifications to software abstractions. The knowledge base covers several primary

Public domain cross platform lock free thread caching 16-byte aligned memory allocator implemented in C

The Boehm-Demers-Weiser conservative C/C++ Garbage Collector (bdwgc, also known as bdw-gc, boehm-gc, libgc)

A Tiny Garbage Collector for C

Public domain cross platform lock free thread caching 16-byte aligned memory allocator implemented in C

Custom memory allocators in C++ to improve the performance of dynamic memory allocation

Smart pointers for the (GNU) C programming language

Message passing based allocator

STL compatible C++ memory allocator library using a new RawAllocator concept that is similar to an Allocator but easier to use and write.

FlameGraph is a performance profiling and visualization toolkit designed to identify bottlenecks in software execution. It functions as a processing engine that transforms raw stack trace samples into interactive, hierarchical diagrams. By representing aggregated execution frequency as nested rectangles, the tool allows developers to visualize hot code paths and analyze system behavior across both kernel and user-space environments. The project distinguishes itself through its ability to perform differential profile analysis, which highlights performance regressions or improvements by compari

Bytehound is a Linux memory profiler that utilizes a custom global allocator to intercept memory requests and track allocations and deallocations. It records full call-stack traces for every memory operation to map allocations back to their originating source code. The project features a remote memory profiling system that streams capture data via network sockets to a separate machine, minimizing resource overhead on the target system. Analysis is supported by a specialized domain-specific query language used to automate the detection of memory patterns and anomalies. The tool covers heap al

EASTL is a C++ Standard Template Library implementation consisting of containers, iterators, and algorithms. It provides cross-platform data structures and a template-based algorithm library designed for use in resource-constrained game engine environments. The library focuses on game engine memory management, providing specialized utilities that ensure predictable memory allocation and high-performance access for real-time applications. These containers maintain consistent behavior across different operating systems and hardware platforms. The project covers high-performance C++ development

Odin is a compiled, statically typed systems programming language designed for high-performance software development. It focuses on pragmatic low-level memory control, providing a toolset for manual memory management and precise control over hardware utilization. The language is distinguished by its flexible memory model, which includes custom allocators and precise data layout capabilities to optimize resource usage. It features a comprehensive foreign function interface for importing assembly files and linking with external libraries using configurable calling conventions. The type system

Folly is a collection of high-performance C++ components designed as an extension to the C++ Standard Library for large-scale production environments. It provides specialized toolkits for memory management, concurrency, asynchronous workflows, and low-latency input and output operations. The project distinguishes itself through the provision of lock-free containers and bounded queues to minimize contention in multi-threaded applications, alongside a framework for managing deferred computations using futures and promises. It further offers specialized memory arenas and optimized implementation

This project is a collection of technical documentation and guides designed as a computer architecture explainer. It provides educational resources on how processors and operating systems execute programs, focusing on the fetch-execute cycle and the fundamental relationship between hardware and the kernel. The documentation covers a wide range of low-level system operations, including detailed guides on the executable and linkable binary format, virtual memory management, and kernel-level operations. It specifically explores the mechanics of CPU scheduling, preemptive multitasking, and the us