.. mode: -*- rst -*-

=============================
Memory Pool System Kit Readme
=============================

:author: Richard Brooksby
:organization: Ravenbrook Limited
:date: 2002-05-20
:revision: $Id$
:confidentiality: public


This is the Memory Pool System Kit -- a complete set of sources for
using, modifying, and adapting the MPS.  This document will give you a
very brief overview and tell you where to find more information.


Overview of the MPS
-------------------

.. IMPORTANT: If you change the paragraph below, also change
   manual/source/guide/overview.rst

The Memory Pool System (MPS) is a very general, adaptable, flexible,
reliable, and efficient memory management system.  It permits the
flexible combination of memory management techniques, supporting manual
and automatic memory management, in-line allocation, finalization,
weakness, and multiple concurrent co-operating incremental generational
garbage collections.  It also includes a library of memory pool classes
implementing specialized memory management policies.

The MPS has been in development since 1994 and deployed in successful
commercial products since 1997. Bugs are almost unknown in production.
It is under continuous development and support by `Ravenbrook
<https://www.ravenbrook.com/>`__.

The MPS is distributed under the BSD 2-clause open source license (see
`<license.txt>`_).


Getting started
---------------

The MPS Kit is a complete set of sources and documentation to enable
you to use, modify, and adapt the MPS: source code, manuals,
procedures, design documentation, and so on.  See the manual_ for an
index.  (If for some reason the manual_ isn't available, you can build
it.  See below.)

.. _manual: https://memory-pool-system.readthedocs.io/

The MPS Kit is distributed in source form.  You need to build it before
using it.  The basic case is straightforward on supported platforms
(see below)::

    cd code
    cc -O2 -c mps.c     Unix / macOS (with Xcode command line)
    cl /O2 /c mps.c     Windows (with Microsoft SDK or Visual Studio 2010)

This will produce an object file you can link with your project.  For
details of how to configure the MPS, build the manual, libraries and
tests, use IDEs, autoconf, etc. see `Building the MPS
<manual/build.txt>`__.

For an example of using the MPS, see the `Scheme interpreter
example <example/scheme/>`_.

Then, to program and integrate the MPS you'll definitely need to read
the manual_.


Supported target platforms
--------------------------

The MPS is currently supported for deployment on:

- Windows Vista or later, on IA-32 and x86-64, using Microsoft Visual
  C/C++;

- Linux 2.6 or later, on IA-32 using GCC and on x86-64 using GCC or
  Clang/LLVM;

- FreeBSD 7 or later, on IA-32 and x86-64, using GCC or Clang/LLVM;

- macOS 10.4 or later, on x86-64, using Clang/LLVM.

.. TODO: Reformat the above as a table.  RB 2023-02-01.

The MPS is highly portable and has run on many other processors and
operating systems in the past (see `Building the MPS
<manual/build.txt>`__). Most of the MPS is written in very pure
ANSI C and compiles without warnings on anything.

.. warning::

    If you are running a multi-threaded 32-bit application on 64-bit
    Windows 7 via the WOW64 emulator, then you must install this
    hotfix from Microsoft:
    `<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2864432/en-us>`__. See
    `<http://zachsaw.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/wow64-bug-getthreadcontext-may-return.html>`__
    for a description of the problem.


Getting help
------------

You can obtain expert professional support for the MPS from `Ravenbrook
Limited <https://www.ravenbrook.com/>`__, the developers of the MPS, who
have many years of experience in commercial memory management systems.
Write to us at mps-questions@ravenbrook.com for more information.

You might also want to join the MPS discussion mailing list.  To join,
visit http://mailman.ravenbrook.com/mailman/listinfo/mps-discussion .


Document History
----------------

==========  =====  ======================================================
2002-05-20  RB_    Original author: Richard Brooksby, Ravenbrook Limited.
2002-05-20  RB_    Created based on template from P4DTI project.
2002-06-18  NB_    Minor updates and corrections.
2002-06-18  RB_    Removed obsolete requirement for MASM.
2002-06-19  NB_    Added note on self-extracting archive
2006-01-30  RHSK_  Update from "1.100.1" to "1.106.1".
2006-03-30  RHSK_  Add section 2: What's new.
2006-04-11  RHSK_  Update from "1.106.1" to "1.106.2".
2006-04-14  RHSK_  Merge updates from version/1.106 back to master.
2006-06-29  RHSK_  Note fixed job001421, job001455.
2006-12-13  RHSK_  Release 1.107.0
2007-07-05  RHSK_  Release 1.108.0
2007-12-21  RHSK_  Release 1.108.1
2008-05-01  RHSK_  Release 1.108.2
2010-03-03  RHSK_  Release 1.109.0
2012-08-14  RB_    Updating build instructions for new platforms.
2012-09-05  RB_    Considerably reduced ready for version 1.110.  Now
                   brought to you in glorious reStructuredText.
2014-01-13  GDR_   Updated supported platforms.
2014-07-04  GDR_   Link to hotfix for WOW64 bug.
2016-03-24  RB_    Adding support for FreeBSD with Clang/LLVM.
2020-05-22  PNJ_   Changed to BSD 2-clause licence.
2023-02-02  RB_    Migrating from Ravenbrook Perforce to GitHub.
==========  =====  ======================================================

.. _PNJ: mailto:pnj@ravenbrook.com
.. _GDR: mailto:gdr@ravenbrook.com
.. _NB: mailto:nb@ravenbrook.com
.. _RB: mailto:rb@ravenbrook.com
.. _RHSK: mailto:rhsk@ravenbrook.com


Copyright and Licence
---------------------

Copyright © 2001–2020 `Ravenbrook Limited <https://www.ravenbrook.com/>`_.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the
   distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

.. end
