Re: [rvm-research] Understanding GC implementations

There's now a draft guide to how an MMTk collector works at

http://docs.codehaus.org/display/RVM/Anatomy+of+a+Garbage+Collector

I'll link it into the user guide at some point when we fix the issue
with displaying code blocks.


On 30/04/13 13:13, Robin Garner wrote:
> I'll start writing a user guide page about how an MMTk plan works.
>
> Email me direct with specific questions and I'll address them first.
>
> cheers,
> Robin
>
> On 30/04/13 13:02, Rifat Shahriyar wrote:
>> Hello,
>> Garbage collectors in Jikes RVM work in phases. There are phases for
>> mutator and collector. There are no explicit calls to invoke mark and
>> sweep phases.
>>
>> For mark sweep collector, marking is done by tracing the heap. Tracing
>> starts from the roots (see STACK_ROOTS and ROOTS phases in
>> SimpleCollector.java) and finishes with a transitive closure (see
>> CLOSURE phase in MSCollector.java). Sweeping is done by walking
>> through the heap and sweep objects that are not marked (see
>> msSpace.release method of RELEASE phase in MS.java).
>>
>> if you want to know how the phases are executed have a look at the
>> processPhaseStack method in Phase.java.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> -
>> Rifat
>> Australian National University
>>
>> On 30/04/13 6:31 AM, Thai, Richard P wrote:
>>> I’ve mentioned before that I was trying my hand at making a garbage
>>> collector and that I wanted a better way towards understanding how
>>> GC’s operate in JikesRVM. I’ve read through how memory allocation
>>> works in JikesRVM, but my understanding of garbage collectors remains
>>> unchanged. Maybe a better approach would be to map a garbage
>>> collector who implementation I know (mark sweep for instance), and
>>> understand where the key phases of its execution are. Would anyone
>>> know where I’d be able to find the explicit calls to invoke the
>>> **mark** and **sweep** phases?
>>>
>>> Best Regards,
>>>
>>> Richard Thai
>>>
>>>
>>>
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