Per
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2012-10/msg00013.php
we have got a problem with the pg_malloc() interface functions that
were recently added to pg_dump and a lot of other frontend code.
Namely, that on platforms where malloc(0) returns NULL instead of
a pointer to a zero-size block, pg_malloc thinks it's a failure
and aborts the program.
There are basically two ways we could fix this:
1. Teach pg_malloc not to complain if result == NULL and size == 0.
2. Before the malloc call, have it replace size == 0 with size = 1.
#2 would guarantee no NULL returns from pg_malloc, which would be closer
to the behavior of palloc in the backend. On the other hand, it seems
a bit wasteful and inelegant. Any code that was capable of calling
malloc(0) before is presumably not going to be upset by a NULL return,
or we'd have seen trouble reports sooner.
Any opinions which way to go? I'm not convinced either way yet.
regards, tom lane
