stack-arena

A fast, stack-like arena allocator inspired by GNU obstack, implemented in Rust.

Features

• Efficient allocation of variable-sized objects with minimal overhead.
• Objects are allocated in contiguous memory chunks.
• Stack-like (LIFO) allocation and deallocation.
• No per-object deallocation: free all objects at once or roll back to a checkpoint.
• Suitable for parsers, interpreters, and other high-performance scenarios.

Usage

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
stack-arena = "0.1"

Example:

use stack_arena::SimpleObstack;

fn main() {
    let mut ob = SimpleObstack::<1024, u8>::new();
    ob.grow(b"hello");
    let ptr = ob.finish();
    // Use ptr...
}

Safety

• All returned pointers or references are valid as long as the arena is not cleared or reset.
• Objects are always stored contiguously in a single chunk.

License

MIT

Acknowledgements

Inspired by GNU obstack.