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##### 3.2.4.2 Preparing for Using Obstacks

Each source file in which you plan to use the obstack functions must include the header file `obstack.h`, like this:

         #include <obstack.h>

Also, if the source file uses the macro `obstack_init`, it must declare or define two functions or macros that will be called by the obstack library. One, `obstack_chunk_alloc`, is used to allocate the chunks of memory into which objects are packed. The other, `obstack_chunk_free`, is used to return chunks when the objects in them are freed. These macros should appear before any use of obstacks in the source file.

Usually these are defined to use `malloc` via the intermediary `xmalloc` (see Unconstrained Allocation). This is done with the following pair of macro definitions:

         #define obstack_chunk_alloc xmalloc
         #define obstack_chunk_free free

Though the memory you get using obstacks really comes from `malloc`, using obstacks is faster because `malloc` is called less often, for larger blocks of memory. See Obstack Chunks, for full details.

At run time, before the program can use a `struct obstack` object as an obstack, it must initialize the obstack by calling `obstack_init`.

— Function: int obstack_init (struct obstack *obstack-ptr)

> Initialize obstack obstack-ptr for allocation of objects. This function calls the obstack's `obstack_chunk_alloc` function. If allocation of memory fails, the function pointed to by `obstack_alloc_failed_handler` is called. The `obstack_init` function always returns 1 (Compatibility notice: Former versions of obstack returned 0 if allocation failed).

Here are two examples of how to allocate the space for an obstack and initialize it. First, an obstack that is a static variable:

         static struct obstack myobstack;
         ...
         obstack_init (&myobstack);

Second, an obstack that is itself dynamically allocated:

         struct obstack *myobstack_ptr
           = (struct obstack *) xmalloc (sizeof (struct obstack));

         obstack_init (myobstack_ptr);

— Variable: obstack_alloc_failed_handler

> The value of this variable is a pointer to a function that `obstack` uses when `obstack_chunk_alloc` fails to allocate memory. The default action is to print a message and abort. You should supply a function that either calls `exit` (see Program Termination) or `longjmp` (see Non-Local Exits) and doesn't return.

>               void my_obstack_alloc_failed (void)
>               ...
>               obstack_alloc_failed_handler = &my_obstack_alloc_failed;