Re: Add malloc attribute to memory allocation functions

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: "Tristan Partin" <tristan@partin.io>
Cc: "pgsql-hackers" <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2026-07-06T04:26:54Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
"Tristan Partin" <tristan@partin.io> writes:
> Given that we now have a tree that compiles fine against 
> -Werror=mismatched-dealloc, we need to make sure that we don't regress. 
> By adding the malloc attribute[0], we can protect against regressions, 
> enable more accurate code coverage with -fanalyzer, and allow the 
> compiler to do some optimizations.

I'm skeptical that this is going to lead to anything but grief.
In particular, since gcc has never heard of memory contexts,
I don't see how we are not going to get buried in bogus
-Wanalyzer-malloc-leak warnings.  It doesn't really help
to add compiler annotations that only sort-of match our semantics.

(This opinion is based on years of dismissing useless Coverity
warnings of this kind.)

			regards, tom lane