Aligned variable reclamation

A method to reclaim obsolete regions of variables in a memory organized in aligned memory blocks, comprising:

• searching a memory buffer for the obsolete regions;
• searching the memory buffer and pairing for respective valid regions that neighbor the obsolete regions;
• determining if the neighboring obsolete regions start addresses are aligned with a starting address of an aligned memory block in the memory and if not aligned,
• writing a portion of content of a first valid region to the neighboring obsolete region as a pad region that is aligned with the starting address of the aligned memory block;
• varying the portion of content of the first valid region that is written to the pad region based on a size of the first valid region and an aligned memory block size;
• writing any remaining valid region, other than the pad region, to the obsolete region beginning at the starting address of the aligned memory block and in multiples of the aligned memory block size, and
• wherein upon completion of the writing, a moved valid region begins at the starting address of the obsolete region and a new obsolete region begins at an end address of the moved valid region;
• tracking the performance of the writing using alternating pairs of structure pointers to indicate at least portions of the obsolete and valid regions indicative of from where and to where the valid variables move during the writing;
• wherein the pairing of respective valid regions with neighboring obsolete regions includes determining a first pair type and a second pair type, the first pair type comprising the respective valid region size greater than a size of the neighboring obsolete region, the second pair type comprising a respective valid regions size less than or equal to the size of the neighboring obsolete region, and
• wherein the record counter is only updated with a first pair type.

A non-transitory computer readable memory (CRM) comprising instructions executable by a processor to reclaim obsolete regions of variables on a memory organized in aligned memory blocks, to:

• search a memory buffer for the obsolete regions, each having a start address;
• search the memory buffer for respective valid regions that neighbor the obsolete regions and to determine if start addresses of the obsolete regions are aligned with a start address of an aligned memory block in the memory and if not aligned,
• write a portion of content of a first valid region to a pad region that is aligned with the start address of the aligned memory block;
• vary the portion of content of the first valid region that is written to the pad region based on a size of the first valid region and an aligned memory block size;
• and
• write any remaining content of the valid region to the obsolete region beginning at an end of the pad region and in multiples of the aligned memory block size wherein upon completion of the writes, a moved valid region begins at the start address of the obsolete region and a new obsolete region begins at an end address of the moved valid region;
• and
• tracking the performance of the writing using alternating pairs of structure pointers to indicate at least portions of the obsolete and valid regions indicative of from where and to where the valid variables move during the writing;
• wherein the pairing of respective valid regions with neighboring obsolete regions includes determining a first pair type and a second pair type, the first pair type comprising the respective valid region size greater than a size of the neighboring obsolete region, the second pair type comprising a respective valid regions size less than or equal to the size of the neighboring obsolete region, and
• wherein the record counter is only updated with a first pair type.