.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
.\"
.\"     @(#)valloc.3	6.3 (Berkeley) 04/19/91
.\"
.Dd 
.Dt VALLOC 3
.Os BSD 3
.Sh NAME
.Nm valloc
.Nd aligned memory allocation function
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <unistd.h>
.Ft char *
.Fn valloc "unsigned size"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Bf -symbolic
Valloc is obsoleted by the current version of malloc(3),
which aligns page-sized and larger allocations.
.Ef
.Pp
The
.Fn valloc
function
allocates
.Fa size
bytes aligned on a page boundary.
It is implemented by calling
.Xr malloc 3
with a slightly larger request, saving the true beginning of the block
allocated, and returning a properly aligned pointer.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
The
.Fn valloc
function returns
a pointer to the allocated space if successful; otherwise
a null pointer is returned
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn valloc
function appeared in 
.Bx 3.0 .
.Sh BUGS
A
.Em vfree
function
has not been implemented.