rabbinur71/c-memory-ownership-contracts — explained in plain English
Analysis updated 2026-05-18
Learn how to design C APIs with clear memory ownership rules.
Study an example of leak-free, double-free-free cleanup code.
Use as a teaching reference for caller-owned buffers and borrowed views.
| rabbinur71/c-memory-ownership-contracts | ac000/find-flv | acc4github/kdenlive-omnifade | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 0 | — | 0 |
| Language | C | C | C |
| Last pushed | — | 2013-04-05 | — |
| Maintenance | — | Dormant | — |
| Setup difficulty | easy | moderate | moderate |
| Complexity | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Audience | developer | developer | general |
Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.
Needs CMake 3.20+ and a C99-compatible compiler like GCC or Clang.
This project is an educational tutorial that teaches how to write safe, well-behaved C programs when it comes to memory management. It comes from the "C by Raaz" YouTube channel and is written in ISO C99, an older but still widely used version of the C programming language. The core lesson is about ownership contracts: clear rules about who is responsible for a piece of memory at any given time, who must clean it up, and how long it stays valid. The example code walks through several common patterns that C programmers run into, including a function that allocates memory and hands responsibility for it to the caller, a caller supplied output buffer, a read only view into data that the caller does not own, and clear boundaries for how long a piece of data remains valid. It also shows how to clean up memory properly without causing leaks or accidentally freeing the same memory twice, and how to handle failures such as a buffer that is too small. The project is organized simply, with a header file describing the public functions, a source file implementing them, and an example program that demonstrates the pattern in action. Building it requires CMake version 3.20 or newer and a C99 compatible compiler such as GCC or Clang. There is also an option to build the project with sanitizers enabled, which are tools that catch memory errors like leaks or invalid access while the program runs. According to the README, a correct run with sanitizers enabled should complete cleanly with no memory issues detected. The code follows a strict coding standard: warnings are treated as errors, variables and outputs are always initialized, buffer sizes are checked carefully, and there is no hidden global state that could cause confusion. The author also aligns the style with established safety guidelines used in critical software, namely MISRA C and CERT C. This project is best suited for someone learning how professional C code manages memory responsibly, rather than a ready to use library.
An ISO C99 tutorial teaching how to design memory-safe C APIs with clear ownership, lifetime, and cleanup rules.
Mainly C. The stack also includes C99, CMake, GCC.
Copyright is held by the author, the README does not spell out specific reuse permissions.
Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.
Mainly developer.
This repo across BitVibe Labs
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