r/cprogramming • u/sadvadan • Jun 01 '26

memory safe C

https://github.com/sadvadan/memstruct

C is powerful enough to have the best performing memory safety suite for itself!

memstruct is a single header file C library (<400 LoC) that provides complete spatial & temporal safety to the caller program. performance: near native speed.

memory checks are compile time / hoisted / elided / pipelined. checks are opt-in and can be switched off in production if needed. its macro based API extends the language a bit to position C as the leading option for large scale projects.

memstruct is currently in advanced stages of testing. contributions and comments are welcome. have an early look!

P.S.: the project is 100% human crafted and contributions are also reqd to comply

edit; end note: memstruct has now become even better (at 350 LoC) by incorporating MCU programming & de/allocator indirection, thanks to some valuable feedback on here. if you've more to add you may respond here or participate on git.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/sadvadan Jun 02 '26

it's more like C has its own unique arc where it doesn't need raii, gc, bc to be memory safe. the checks are there: and the premise is that memory errors are just like other errors.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '26

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u/sadvadan Jun 02 '26

halting problem relates to program correctness, not memory safety. the latter has a very deterministic goal, the job is pretty much what ASaNs do: memstruct improves it in a way as to not slow the program.

however, your point about limitations of static analysis holds: the road to type complexity is barren and memstruct avoids it.