sbrk() COHERENT System Call sbrk() Increase a program's data space char *sbrk(increment) unsigned int increment; sbrk increases a program's data space by increment bytes. It in- crements the variable _ _end; this variable is set by the C run- time startup routine, and points to the end of the program's data space. The memory allocation routine malloc calls sbrk should you attempt to allocate more space than is available in the program's data space. sbrk returns a pointer to the previous setting of _ _end if the requested memory is available, or NULL if it is not. ***** See Also ***** brk(), COHERENT system calls, malloc() ***** Notes ***** sbrk will not increase the size of the program data area if the physical memory requested exceeds the physical memory allocated by COHERENT, or if the requested memory exceeds the limit set in the user-defined variable maxmem. sbrk does not keep track of how space is used; therefore, memory seized with sbrk cannot be freed. Caveat utilitor. COHERENT Lexicon Page 1