MemProfiler: A tracing and analysis system for memory fragmentation

Memory fragmentation is a critical challenge in software, causing allocation failures despite ample free memory. Existing profiling tools focus on memory leaks or peak usage but fail to explain why fragmentation occurs. In this paper, we present a non-intrusive tracing and analysis system designed for fragmentation diagnosis. The system captures cross-layer memory events and reconstructs heap layout snapshots through offline replay. By introducing peak-anchored spatio-temporal focusing, the system compresses massive event streams into high-information-density segments. The system aligns metric anomalies with spatial evidence and triggering behaviors, providing system researchers and performance engineers with a traceable, and reproducible diagnostic capability for fragmentation analysis.

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Publication Details

Journal
SoftwareX
Published
2026-04-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2026.102683
Primary Topic
Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

MemProfiler: A tracing and analysis system for memory fragmentation

Jie Chen, Digang Gao, Xuzheng Jiang
SoftwareX
Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques
article

MemProfiler: A tracing and analysis system for memory fragmentation

Jie Chen, Digang Gao, Xuzheng Jiang
article en

Abstract

Memory fragmentation is a critical challenge in software, causing allocation failures despite ample free memory. Existing profiling tools focus on memory leaks or peak usage but fail to explain why fragmentation occurs. In this paper, we present a non-intrusive tracing and analysis system designed for fragmentation diagnosis. The system captures cross-layer memory events and reconstructs heap layout snapshots through offline replay. By introducing peak-anchored spatio-temporal focusing, the system compresses massive event streams into high-information-density segments. The system aligns metric anomalies with spatial evidence and triggering behaviors, providing system researchers and performance engineers with a traceable, and reproducible diagnostic capability for fragmentation analysis.

SoftwareXVol. 34
Hangzhou Dianzi University (CN)
Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Parallel Computing and Optimization Techniques
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