Linux's SLAB Allocator Next On Deck For Deprecation & Removal

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux's SLAB Allocator Next On Deck For Deprecation & Removal

With the in-development Linux 6.4 kernel the SLOB allocator is removed while next the plan is for the deprecation and eventual removal of the SLAB allocator...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-Deprecating-Removing-SLAB

[ehansin]

Let's face it, SLOB was quite the mess, and SLAB looks to have fallen flat. I guess it is as they say: "Rub-a-dub-dub, you got to use SLUB!"

[ayumu]

Was SLAB actually better at anything, relative to SLOB or SLUB?

[jabl]

Was SLAB actually better at anything, relative to SLOB or SLUB?

Here's a history of them: https://events.static.linuxfound.org...allocators.pdf

[fitzie]

i remember hearing this story of how Jeff Bonwick named the original SLAB allocator (for sunos) due to a childhood friend that used to say "don't pinch an inch, grab a slab" as they would grab their belly fat. Cannot find a reference to this story anymore, so who knows if it's true. I think of this story every time the SLAB is mentioned, and it seems like that name will be going away soon enough.