the lost malloc()
0 comments · c, historical, unix
- Comments5
–Rank now
#8Peak rank
2Days on list
194Score · 7d
Nov 2, 2026First seen
Rank · 7 days
On Lobsters
chistoricalunix
- Score
- 32
- Comments
- 5
- Submitted by
- spc476
- Tags
- c, historical, unix
- Site
- napcakes.nekoweb.org
Story details from Lobsters ↗ · linked article on napcakes.nekoweb.org.
Trending history
the lost malloc() was first seen on Lobsters · Hottest on Nov 2, 2026. Since then it has appeared in 69 checks on 2 different days. Its best position was #8 of 25, reached on Nov 2, 21:21 UTC. It dropped off the list after Nov 3, 19:51 UTC. The same link also trended on Hacker News, which raises its cross-platform score.
Rank history
Position on Lobsters · Hottest at every check (lower is better).
Last 14 days
Best rank per day (UTC).
8
11
Oct 26today
Metric history
Platform metric as reported by Lobsters.
Where it trended
| List | Best | Days | Checks | Last seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lobsters · Hottest | #8 | 2 | 69 | |
| YHacker News · Front page The lost malloc() | same link | |||
From the discussion
A few top-level comments from Lobsters, shortened. Read the full thread on Lobsters.
This was a good read! I love finding code from before K&R C, when the augmented-assignment operators were flipped (`=+` instead of `+=`)
Note that this article doesn’t make it very clear that dmr/malloc is the kernel allocator; I think all the others it discusses are userland allocators. (The early unix kernels had their source split between directories ken and dmr, a kind of charming instance of Conway’s law.) (I’m mildly disappointed the article…
> these malloc() and mfree() work on explicit memory regions! ... You could deallocate all its memory resources by just discarding the entire region you delegated to it. This idea of a zone allocator keeps coming back. I've always wondered why it wasn't more popular in web servers, where it'd be natural to just…
Featured in
Archived daily, weekly and monthly lists that include this entry.
Lobsters 2 days, best #8
Questions
Is the lost malloc() trending on Lobsters right now?
Not at the moment. It was last on the list on Nov 3, 19:51 UTC, after 2 days of trending.
What is the highest rank the lost malloc() reached?
#8 on Lobsters · Hottest, on Nov 2, 21:21 UTC. Trendoday checks this list every 30 minutes.
How long has the lost malloc() been trending?
It was first seen on Nov 2, 2026 and has been on the list on 2 days (69 checks) since.