FREEBUF(3PVM)

✨ FREEBUF 💅 — the PVM Version 3.4 glow-up edition ✨

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about pvm_freebuf — it's literally the "ok bye, cleaning up after myself" of the PVM world 🧹💖 and it lives in the manual page called FREEBUF(3PVM), PVM Version 3.4 era. iconic behavior honestly.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

pvm_freebuf — disposes of a message buffer. that's it, that's the job. she's a deleter, a cleaner, a closer of tabs 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

C:

int info = pvm_freebuf( int bufid )

Fortran:

call pvmffreebuf( bufid, info )

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🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• bufid — the integer message buffer identifier. it's the lil name tag your buffer wears so everyone knows which one we're talking about 💅
• info — the integer status code the routine hands back to you. anything less than zero means something went wrong, so if it's negative, that's a red flag 🚩 not a slay.

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so pvm_freebuf frees the memory that's chillin' with the message buffer identified by bufid. message buffers get created by pvm_mkbuf, pvm_initsend, and pvm_recv — those are the three besties that make buffers happen ✨

if pvm_freebuf succeeds, info will be 0. if some error occurs then info will be < 0. no in-between, no "it's complicated", just that binary.

you can call pvm_freebuf on a send buffer created by pvm_mkbuf after the message has been sent and is no longer needed. like, the message is out the door, living its best life, you don't need to hold its stuff anymore 👋

receive buffers typically do not have to be freed unless they have been saved in the course of using multiple buffers. but bestie, pvm_freebuf can be used to destroy receive buffers as well. so messages that arrive but are no longer needed can be destroyed so they will not consume buffer space. very "we're done here, no hoarding" energy 🔥

typically multiple send and receive buffers are not needed and the user can simply use the pvm_initsend routine to reset the default send buffer. one routine, one reset, no drama 🌈

but there are several cases where multiple buffers are useful. one example where multiple message buffers are needed involves libraries or graphical interfaces that use PVM and interact with a running PVM application but do not want to interfere with the application's own communication. like, they're sharing the group chat but they are NOT reading each other's DMs 🙈

when multiple buffers are used they generally are made and freed for each message that is packed. and here's the tea 🍵 — pvm_initsend simply does a pvm_freebuf followed by a pvm_mkbuf for the default buffer. so yeah, the reset you love is literally just free + make. no cap.

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🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

C:

bufid = pvm_mkbuf( PvmDataDefault );
      :
info = pvm_freebuf( bufid );

Fortran:

CALL PVMFMKBUF( PVMDEFAULT, BUFID )
      :
CALL PVMFFREEBUF( BUFID, INFO )

look at that symmetry. make it, do the thing, free it. self-care routine fr fr 🧚

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😭 ERRORS 😭

these error conditions can be returned by pvm_freebuf:

• PvmBadParam — giving an invalid argument value. you handed her something she cannot work with, bestie, and she is telling you.
• PvmNoSuchBuf — giving an invalid bufid value. that buffer? doesn't exist. the name tag belongs to nobody. it's giving ghosting 💀

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

pvm_mkbuf(3PVM), pvm_initsend(3PVM), pvm_recv(3PVM) — the whole friend group, go read them too, iykyk 🦋

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remember: freeing is not deleting your friends, it's just freeing memory. but also like, be careful which bufid you pass. she will not warn you twice.

and that's the whole page, bestie — this was FREEBUF(3PVM) from PVM Version 3.4, dated 30 August, 1993, and yes she is a vintage queen and we love her for it 💜✨