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Code Editor : investigating-native-memory-leaks.md

# Investigating memory leaks with Valgrind

A Node.js process may run out of memory due to excessive consumption of
native memory. Native Memory is memory which is not managed by the
V8 Garbage collector and is allocated either by the Node.js runtime, its
dependencies or native [addons](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/n-api.html).

This guide provides information on how to use Valgrind to investigate these
issues on Linux platforms.

## Valgrind

[Valgrind](https://valgrind.org/docs/manual/quick-start.html) is a
tool available on Linux distributions which can be used to investigate
memory usage including identifying memory leaks (memory which is
allocated and not freed) and other memory related problems
like double freeing memory.

To use Valgrind:

* Be patient, running under Valgrind slows execution significantly
  due to the checks being performed.
* Reduce your test case to the smallest reproduce. Due to the slowdown it is
  important to run the minimum test case in order to be able to do it in
  a reasonable time.

## Installation

It is an optional package in most cases and must be installed explicitly.
For example on Debian/Ubuntu:

```console
apt-get install valgrind
```

## Invocation

The simplest invocation of Valgrind is:

```console
valgrind node test.js
```

with the output being:

```console
user1@minikube1:~/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi$ valgrind node test.js
==28993== Memcheck, a memory error detector
==28993== Copyright (C) 2002-2017, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
==28993== Using Valgrind-3.13.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
==28993== Command: node test.js
==28993==
==28993== Use of uninitialised value of size 8
==28993==    at 0x12F2279: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F3E9C: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0x12F3C77: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0xC7C9CF: v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::Invoke(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::InvokeParams const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0xC7CE87: v8::internal::Execution::Call(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, int, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==    by 0xB4CF3A: v8::Function::Call(v8::Local<v8::Context>, v8::Local<v8::Value>, int, v8::Local<v8::Value>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==28993==
--28993-- WARNING: unhandled amd64-linux syscall: 332
--28993-- You may be able to write your own handler.
--28993-- Read the file README_MISSING_SYSCALL_OR_IOCTL.
--28993-- Nevertheless we consider this a bug.  Please report
--28993-- it at http://valgrind.org/support/bug_reports.html.
==28993==
==28993== HEAP SUMMARY:
==28993==     in use at exit: 6,140 bytes in 23 blocks
==28993==   total heap usage: 12,888 allocs, 12,865 frees, 13,033,244 bytes allocated
==28993==
==28993== LEAK SUMMARY:
==28993==    definitely lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==28993==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==28993==      possibly lost: 304 bytes in 1 blocks
==28993==    still reachable: 5,836 bytes in 22 blocks
==28993==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==28993== Rerun with --leak-check=full to see details of leaked memory
==28993==
==28993== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
==28993== Use --track-origins=yes to see where uninitialised values come
```

This reports that Node.js is not _completely_ clean as there is some memory
that was allocated but not freed when the process shut down. It is often
impractical/not worth being completely clean in this respect. Modern
operating systems will clean up the memory of the process after the
shutdown while attempting to free all memory to get a clean
report may have a negative impact on the code complexity and
shutdown times. Node.js does a pretty good job only leaving on
the order of 6 KB that are not freed on shutdown.

## An obvious memory leak

Leaks can be introduced in native addons and the following is a simple
example leak based on the "Hello world" addon from
[node-addon-examples](https://github.com/nodejs/node-addon-examples).

In this example, a loop which allocates approximately 1 MiB of memory and never
frees it has been added:

```cpp
void* malloc_holder = nullptr;
napi_value Method(napi_env env, napi_callback_info info) {
  napi_status status;
  napi_value world;
  status = napi_create_string_utf8(env, "world", 5, &world);
  assert(status == napi_ok);

// NEW LEAK HERE
  for (int i=0; i < 1024; i++) {
    malloc_holder = malloc(1024);
  }

return world;
}
```

When trying to create a memory leak you need to ensure that
the compiler has not optimized out the code that creates
the leak. For example, by assigning the result of the allocation
to either a global variable or a variable that will be read
afterwards the compiler will not optimize it out along with
the malloc and Valgrind will properly report the memory leak.
If `malloc_holder` in the example above is made into a
local variable then the compiler may freely remove
it along with the allocations (since it is not used)
and Valgrind will not find any leaks since they
will no longer exist in the code being run.

Running Valgrind on this code shows the following:

```console
user1@minikube1:~/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi$ valgrind node hello.js
==1504== Memcheck, a memory error detector
==1504== Copyright (C) 2002-2017, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
==1504== Using Valgrind-3.13.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
==1504== Command: node hello.js
==1504==
==1504== Use of uninitialised value of size 8
==1504==    at 0x12F2279: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F3E9C: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0x12F3C77: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0xC7C9CF: v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::Invoke(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::InvokeParams const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0xC7CE87: v8::internal::Execution::Call(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, int, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==    by 0xB4CF3A: v8::Function::Call(v8::Local<v8::Context>, v8::Local<v8::Value>, int, v8::Local<v8::Value>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==1504==
--1504-- WARNING: unhandled amd64-linux syscall: 332
--1504-- You may be able to write your own handler.
--1504-- Read the file README_MISSING_SYSCALL_OR_IOCTL.
--1504-- Nevertheless we consider this a bug.  Please report
--1504-- it at http://valgrind.org/support/bug_reports.html.
world
==1504==
==1504== HEAP SUMMARY:
==1504==     in use at exit: 1,008,003 bytes in 1,032 blocks
==1504==   total heap usage: 17,603 allocs, 16,571 frees, 18,306,103 bytes allocated
==1504==
==1504== LEAK SUMMARY:
==1504==    definitely lost: 996,064 bytes in 997 blocks
==1504==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==1504==      possibly lost: 3,304 bytes in 4 blocks
==1504==    still reachable: 8,635 bytes in 31 blocks
==1504==                       of which reachable via heuristic:
==1504==                         multipleinheritance: 48 bytes in 1 blocks
==1504==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==1504== Rerun with --leak-check=full to see details of leaked memory
==1504==
==1504== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
==1504== Use --track-origins=yes to see where uninitialised values come from
==1504== ERROR SUMMARY: 1 errors from 1 contexts (suppressed: 0 from 0)
```

Valgrind is reporting a problem as it shows 996,604 bytes as
definitely lost and the question is how to find where that memory was
allocated. The next step is to rerun as suggested in the
output with `--leak-check=full`:

```bash
user1@minikube1:~/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi$ valgrind --leak-check=full node hello.js
==4174== Memcheck, a memory error detector
==4174== Copyright (C) 2002-2017, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
==4174== Using Valgrind-3.13.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
==4174== Command: node hello.js
==4174==
==4174== Use of uninitialised value of size 8
==4174==    at 0x12F2279: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F3E9C: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F3C77: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xC7C9CF: v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::Invoke(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::InvokeParams const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xC7CE87: v8::internal::Execution::Call(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, int, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xB4CF3A: v8::Function::Call(v8::Local<v8::Context>, v8::Local<v8::Value>, int, v8::Local<v8::Value>*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==
--4174-- WARNING: unhandled amd64-linux syscall: 332
--4174-- You may be able to write your own handler.
--4174-- Read the file README_MISSING_SYSCALL_OR_IOCTL.
--4174-- Nevertheless we consider this a bug.  Please report
--4174-- it at http://valgrind.org/support/bug_reports.html.
world
==4174==
==4174== HEAP SUMMARY:
==4174==     in use at exit: 1,008,003 bytes in 1,032 blocks
==4174==   total heap usage: 17,606 allocs, 16,574 frees, 18,305,977 bytes allocated
==4174==
==4174== 64 bytes in 1 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 17 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C3017F: operator new(unsigned long) (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x9AEAD5: napi_module_register (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x4010732: call_init (dl-init.c:72)
==4174==    by 0x4010732: _dl_init (dl-init.c:119)
==4174==    by 0x40151FE: dl_open_worker (dl-open.c:522)
==4174==    by 0x5D052DE: _dl_catch_exception (dl-error-skeleton.c:196)
==4174==    by 0x40147C9: _dl_open (dl-open.c:605)
==4174==    by 0x4E3CF95: dlopen_doit (dlopen.c:66)
==4174==    by 0x5D052DE: _dl_catch_exception (dl-error-skeleton.c:196)
==4174==    by 0x5D0536E: _dl_catch_error (dl-error-skeleton.c:215)
==4174==    by 0x4E3D734: _dlerror_run (dlerror.c:162)
==4174==    by 0x4E3D050: dlopen@@GLIBC_2.2.5 (dlopen.c:87)
==4174==    by 0x9B29A0: node::binding::DLOpen(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&)::{lambda(node::binding::DLib*)#1}::operator()(node::binding::DLib*) const (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==
==4174== 304 bytes in 1 blocks are possibly lost in loss record 27 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C31B25: calloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x40134A6: allocate_dtv (dl-tls.c:286)
==4174==    by 0x40134A6: _dl_allocate_tls (dl-tls.c:530)
==4174==    by 0x5987227: allocate_stack (allocatestack.c:627)
==4174==    by 0x5987227: pthread_create@@GLIBC_2.2.5 (pthread_create.c:644)
==4174==    by 0xAAF9DC: node::inspector::Agent::Start(std::string const&, node::DebugOptions const&, std::shared_ptr<node::HostPort>, bool) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x9A8BE7: node::Environment::InitializeInspector(std::unique_ptr<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle, std::default_delete<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle> >) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xA1C9A5: node::NodeMainInstance::CreateMainEnvironment(int*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xA1CB42: node::NodeMainInstance::Run() (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x9ACB67: node::Start(int, char**) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x5BBFB96: (below main) (libc-start.c:310)
==4174==
==4174== 2,000 bytes in 2 blocks are possibly lost in loss record 33 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C2FB0F: malloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x9794979: Method(napi_env__*, napi_callback_info__*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi/build/Release/hello.node)
==4174==    by 0x98F764: v8impl::(anonymous namespace)::FunctionCallbackWrapper::Invoke(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA6FC8: v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTemplateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::BuiltinArguments) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA8DB6: v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x1376358: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==
==4174== 997,000 bytes in 997 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 35 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C2FB0F: malloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x9794979: Method(napi_env__*, napi_callback_info__*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi/build/Release/hello.node)
==4174==    by 0x98F764: v8impl::(anonymous namespace)::FunctionCallbackWrapper::Invoke(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA6FC8: v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTemplateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::BuiltinArguments) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA8DB6: v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x1376358: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==
==4174== LEAK SUMMARY:
==4174==    definitely lost: 997,064 bytes in 998 blocks
==4174==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==4174==      possibly lost: 2,304 bytes in 3 blocks
==4174==    still reachable: 8,635 bytes in 31 blocks
==4174==                       of which reachable via heuristic:
==4174==                         multipleinheritance: 48 bytes in 1 blocks
==4174==         suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==4174== Reachable blocks (those to which a pointer was found) are not shown.
==4174== To see them, rerun with: --leak-check=full --show-leak-kinds=all
==4174==
==4174== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
==4174== Use --track-origins=yes to see where uninitialised values come from
==4174== ERROR SUMMARY: 5 errors from 5 contexts (suppressed: 0 from 0)
```

This is the most interesting part of the report:

```console
==4174== 997,000 bytes in 997 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 35 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C2FB0F: malloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x9794979: Method(napi_env__*, napi_callback_info__*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi/build/Release/hello.node)
==4174==    by 0x98F764: v8impl::(anonymous namespace)::FunctionCallbackWrapper::Invoke(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA6FC8: v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTemplateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::BuiltinArguments) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xBA8DB6: v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x1376358: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
```

From the stack trace we can tell that the leak came from a native addon:

```console
==4174==    by 0x9794979: Method(napi_env__*, napi_callback_info__*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-addon-examples/1_hello_world/napi/build/Release/hello.node)
```

What we can't tell is where in the native addon the memory is being
allocated. This is because by default the addon is compiled without
the debug symbols which Valgrind needs to be able to provide more
information.

It is possible to hide leaks related to Node.js itself in future Valgrind runs
using the suppression feature of Valgrind.

## Generating a Valgrind suppression file

Valgrind uses suppression files to hide issues found from the summary. Generate
a log file with embedded suppressions using the `--gen-suppressions` and
`--log-file` flags:

```bash
valgrind --leak-check=full \
   --gen-suppressions=all \
   --log-file=./valgrind-out.txt \
   node hello.js
```

Valgrind will save the output to the log file specified. After each heap in the
summary, Valgrind will include a suppression record: a structure that Valgrind
can use to ignore specific memory issues. Suppression records can be saved to a
suppression file which Valgrind can use in subsequent executions to hide various
memory errors. This is an example of the suppression records from the previous
call:

```text
{
   <insert_a_suppression_name_here>
   Memcheck:Value8
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   obj:/home/kevin/.nvm/versions/node/v12.14.1/bin/node
   fun:_ZN2v88internal12_GLOBAL__N_16InvokeEPNS0_7IsolateERKNS1_12InvokeParamsE
   fun:_ZN2v88internal9Execution4CallEPNS0_7IsolateENS0_6HandleINS0_6ObjectEEES6_iPS6_
   fun:_ZN2v88Function4CallENS_5LocalINS_7ContextEEENS1_INS_5ValueEEEiPS5_
}
{
   <insert_a_suppression_name_here>
   Memcheck:Leak
   match-leak-kinds: definite
   fun:_Znwm
   fun:napi_module_register
   fun:call_init.part.0
   fun:call_init
   fun:_dl_init
   fun:_dl_catch_exception
   fun:dl_open_worker
   fun:_dl_catch_exception
   fun:_dl_open
   fun:dlopen_doit
   fun:_dl_catch_exception
   fun:_dl_catch_error
   fun:_dlerror_run
}
{
   <insert_a_suppression_name_here>
   Memcheck:Leak
   match-leak-kinds: possible
   fun:calloc
   fun:allocate_dtv
   fun:_dl_allocate_tls
   fun:allocate_stack
   fun:pthread_create@@GLIBC_2.2.5
   fun:_ZN4node9inspector5Agent5StartERKSsRKNS_12DebugOptionsESt10shared_ptrINS_8HostPortEEb
   fun:_ZN4node11Environment19InitializeInspectorESt10unique_ptrINS_9inspector21ParentInspectorHandleESt14default_deleteIS3_EE
   fun:_ZN4node16NodeMainInstance21CreateMainEnvironmentEPi
   fun:_ZN4node16NodeMainInstance3RunEv
   fun:_ZN4node5StartEiPPc
   fun:(below main)
}
```

Create a file (eg. `node-12.14.1.supp`) with the contents of the suppression
records, and run Valgrind with the suppression file previously created:

```bash
valgrind --leak-check=full \
   --suppressions=./node-12.14.1.supp \
   node hello.js
```

Now, the Valgrind leak summary for suppressed issues are only mentioned as
`suppressed` in the leak summary:

```console
==12471== HEAP SUMMARY:
==12471==     in use at exit: 8,067 bytes in 31 blocks
==12471==   total heap usage: 16,482 allocs, 16,451 frees, 17,255,689 bytes allocated
==12471==
==12471== LEAK SUMMARY:
==12471==    definitely lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==12471==    indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==12471==      possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
==12471==    still reachable: 7,699 bytes in 29 blocks
==12471==                       of which reachable via heuristic:
==12471==                         multipleinheritance: 48 bytes in 1 blocks
==12471==         suppressed: 368 bytes in 2 blocks
```

## Enabling debug symbols to get more information

Leaks may be either in addons or Node.js itself. The sections which
follow cover the steps needed to enable debug symbols to get more info.

### Native addons

To enable debug symbols for all of your addons that are compiled on
install use:

```console
npm install --debug
```

Any options which are not consumed by npm are passed on to node-gyp and this
results in the addons being compiled with the debug option.

If the native addon contains pre-built binaries you will need to force
a rebuild.

```console
npm install --debug
npm rebuild
```

The next step is to run Valgrind after the rebuild. This time the information
for the leaking location includes the name of the source file and the
line number:

```console
==18481== 997,000 bytes in 997 blocks are definitely lost in loss record 35 of 35
==18481==    at 0x4C2FB0F: malloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
>>>>> ==18481==    by 0x9794989: Method(napi_env__*, napi_callback_info__*) (hello.cc:13)  <<<<<
==18481==    by 0x98F764: v8impl::(anonymous namespace)::FunctionCallbackWrapper::Invoke(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) (in /home/user1/val  grind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0xBA6FC8: v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::Object> v8::internal::(anonymous namespace)::HandleApiCallHelper<false>(v8::internal::  Isolate*, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::HeapObject>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::FunctionTem  plateInfo>, v8::internal::Handle<v8::internal::Object>, v8::internal::BuiltinArguments) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0xBA8DB6: v8::internal::Builtin_HandleApiCall(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x1376358: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==18481==    by 0x12F68A3: ??? (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
```

This new output shows us exactly where the leak is occurring in the file `hello.cc`:

```cpp
  6 void* malloc_holder = nullptr;
  7 napi_value Method(napi_env env, napi_callback_info info) {
  8   napi_status status;
  9   napi_value world;
 10   status = napi_create_string_utf8(env, "world", 5, &world);
 11   assert(status == napi_ok);
 12   for (int i=0; i< 1000; i++) {
 13     malloc_holder = malloc(1000);  // <<<<<< This is where we are allocating the memory that is not freed
 14   }
 15   return world;
 16 }
```

### Node.js binary

If the leak is not in an addon and is instead in the Node.js binary itself,
you may need to compile node yourself and turn on debug symbols. Looking at
this entry reported by Valgrind, with a release binary we see:

```console
 ==4174== 304 bytes in 1 blocks are possibly lost in loss record 27 of 35
==4174==    at 0x4C31B25: calloc (in /usr/lib/valgrind/vgpreload_memcheck-amd64-linux.so)
==4174==    by 0x40134A6: allocate_dtv (dl-tls.c:286)
==4174==    by 0x40134A6: _dl_allocate_tls (dl-tls.c:530)
==4174==    by 0x5987227: allocate_stack (allocatestack.c:627)
==4174==    by 0x5987227: pthread_create@@GLIBC_2.2.5 (pthread_create.c:644)
==4174==    by 0xAAF9DC: node::inspector::Agent::Start(std::string const&, node::DebugOptions const&, std::shared_ptr<node::HostPort>, bool) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x9A8BE7: node::Environment::InitializeInspector(std::unique_ptr<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle, std::default_delete<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle> >) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xA1C9A5: node::NodeMainInstance::CreateMainEnvironment(int*) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0xA1CB42: node::NodeMainInstance::Run() (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x9ACB67: node::Start(int, char**) (in /home/user1/valgrind/node-v12.14.1-linux-x64/bin/node)
==4174==    by 0x5BBFB96: (below main) (libc-start.c:310)
```

This gives us some information of where to look (`node::inspector::Agent::Start`)
but not where in that function. We get more information than you might expect
(or see by default with addons) because the Node.js binary exports many of
its symbols using `-rdynamic` so that they can be used by addons. If the stack
gives you enough information to track down where the leak is, that's great,
otherwise the next step is to compile a debug build of Node.js.

To get additional information with Valgrind:

* Check out the Node.js source corresponding to the release that you
  want to debug. For example:

```console
git clone https://github.com/nodejs/node.git
git checkout v12.14.1
```

* Compile with debug enabled (for additional info see
  [building a debug build](https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/v12.14.1/BUILDING.md#building-a-debug-build)).
  For example, on \*nix:

```console
./configure --debug
make -j4
```

* Make sure to run with your compiled debug version of Node.js. Having used
  `./configure --debug`, two binaries will have been built when `make` was run.
  You must use the one which is in `out/Debug`.

Running Valgrind using the debug build of Node.js shows:

```console
==44112== 592 bytes in 1 blocks are possibly lost in loss record 26 of 27
==44112==    at 0x4C2BF79: calloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:762)
==44112==    by 0x4012754: _dl_allocate_tls (in /usr/lib64/ld-2.17.so)
==44112==    by 0x586287B: pthread_create@@GLIBC_2.2.5 (in /usr/lib64/libpthread-2.17.so)
==44112==    by 0xFAB2D2: node::inspector::(anonymous namespace)::StartDebugSignalHandler() (inspector_agent.cc:140)
==44112==    by 0xFACB10: node::inspector::Agent::Start(std::string const&, node::DebugOptions const&, std::shared_ptr<node::HostPort>, bool) (inspector_agent.cc:777)
==44112==    by 0xE3A0BB: node::Environment::InitializeInspector(std::unique_ptr<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle, std::default_delete<node::inspector::ParentInspectorHandle> >) (node.cc:216)
==44112==    by 0xEE8F3E: node::NodeMainInstance::CreateMainEnvironment(int*) (node_main_instance.cc:222)
==44112==    by 0xEE8831: node::NodeMainInstance::Run() (node_main_instance.cc:108)
==44112==    by 0xE3CDEC: node::Start(int, char**) (node.cc:996)
==44112==    by 0x22D8BBF: main (node_main.cc:126)
```

Now we can see the specific file name and line in the Node.js code which
caused the allocation (inspector\_agent.cc:140).

We can examine that line (and its surrounding code) to
find a solution for the memory leak.

${this.title}

Code Editor : investigating-native-memory-leaks.md