diegosouzapw Arena Allocator Pattern (C-Specific)
Allocate many objects from single memory region, free all at once. No individual frees. Hierarchical arenas enable nested lifetimes.
ikigai Application
talloc: ikigai uses talloc for hierarchical arenas:
TALLOC_CTX *request_ctx = talloc_new(parent);
// All allocations are children
char *str = talloc_strdup(request_ctx, "hello");
ik_msg_t *msg = talloc(request_ctx, ik_msg_t);
// Single free cleans everything
talloc_free(request_ctx);
Ownership hierarchy:
root_ctx
└─> repl_ctx
└─> scrollback (freed with repl)
└─> messages[] (freed with repl)
Benefits: No memory leaks by design. No use-after-free. Clear ownership. Fast bulk deallocation.
See: project/memory.md for talloc patterns.