memory defragmentation

[Ian Brown]

>
> > I know the free block will be merged with its free neighbors once it is
> > freed. Will it be possible that a large block can not be allocated in the
> > heap because each free block on the list is too small, even though total
> > free memory size is large enough?
> >
>
> You're right.  This fragmentation problem is not currently addressed.
>
>         - Godmar

This can be a serious problem. I've got what could be called "middle ware" code
that allows multiple data acquisition and data analysis programs to share data.
We've run tests with the data acquisition programs sending hundreds to thousands of
data frames per second. Each frame consists of a header (multiple small objects)
and a data block (one potentially large object). I've seen it run into problems
with memory in kaffe (much older versions at this point, but it sounds like things
haven't changed).

Ian