Introduce gdb::byte_vector, add allocator that default-initializes

Message ID 78076de1-a317-3e38-8529-63824943e3af@redhat.com
State New, archived
Headers

Commit Message

Pedro Alves June 14, 2017, 10:21 a.m. UTC
  On 06/14/2017 09:39 AM, Simon Marchi wrote:

> Thanks for the detailed explanation.  It's all very logical, but it's
> also full of small details essential to really understand what's happening.

Yeah...  As custom with "library" code, thankfully uses of the types
can remain oblivious to how the types work under the hood.

I've pushed the patch in now, with the trivial adjustments to both
dwarf2loc.c, after Andreas' series, and to make the new int128_t printing
code use gdb::byte_vector.

From d5722aa2fe9e1d76d98865a9ab77a7b9388743c9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2017 11:08:52 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Introduce gdb::byte_vector, add allocator that
 default-initializes

In some cases we've been replacing heap-allocated gdb_byte buffers
managed with xmalloc/make_cleanup(xfree) with gdb::vector<gdb_byte>.
That usually pessimizes the code a little bit because std::vector
value-initializes elements (which for gdb_byte means
zero-initialization), while if you're creating a temporary buffer,
you're most certaintly going to fill it in with some data.  An
alternative is to use

  unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[size]);

but it looks like that's not very popular.

Recently, a use of obstacks in dwarf2read.c was replaced with
std::vector<gdb_byte> and that as well introduced a pessimization for
always memsetting the buffer when it's garanteed that the zeros will
be overwritten immediately.  (see dwarf2read.c change in this patch to
find it.)

So here's a different take at addressing this issue "by design":

#1 - Introduce default_init_allocator<T>

I.e., a custom allocator that does default construction using default
initialization, meaning, no more zero initialization.  That's the
default_init_allocation<T> class added in this patch.

See "Notes" at
<http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/vector/resize>.

#2 - Introduce def_vector<T>

I.e., a convenience typedef, because typing the allocator is annoying:

  using def_vector<T> = std::vector<T, gdb::default_init_allocator<T>>;

#3 - Introduce byte_vector

Because gdb_byte vectors will be the common thing, add a convenience
"byte_vector" typedef:

  using byte_vector = def_vector<gdb_byte>;

which is really the same as:

  std::vector<gdb_byte, gdb::default_init_allocator<gdb_byte>>;

The intent then is to make "gdb::byte_vector" be the go-to for dynamic
byte buffers.  So the less friction, the better.

#4 - Adjust current code to use it.

To set the example going forward.  Replace std::vector uses and also
unique_ptr<byte[]> uses.

One nice thing is that with this allocator, for changes like these:

  -std::unique_ptr<byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[some_size]);
  +gdb::byte_vector buf (some_size);
   fill_with_data (buf.data (), buf.size ());

the generated code is the same as before.  I.e., the compiler
de-structures the vector and gets rid of the unused "reserved vs size"
related fields.

The other nice thing is that it's easier to write
  gdb::byte_vector buf (size);
than
  std::unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[size]);
or even (C++14):
  auto buf = std::make_unique<gdb_byte[]> (size); // zero-initializes...

#5 - Suggest s/std::vector<gdb_byte>/gdb::byte_vector/ going forward.

Note that this commit actually fixes a couple of bugs where the current
code is incorrectly using "std::vector::reserve(new_size)" and then
accessing the vector's internal buffer beyond the vector's size: see
dwarf2loc.c and charset.c.  That's undefined behavior and may trigger
debug mode assertion failures.  With default_init_allocator,
"resize()" behaves like "reserve()" performance wise, in that it
leaves new elements with unspecified values, but, it does that safely
without triggering undefined behavior when you access those values.

gdb/ChangeLog:
2017-06-14  Pedro Alves  <palves@redhat.com>

	* ada-lang.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(ada_value_primitive_packed_val): Use gdb::byte_vector.
	* charset.c (wchar_iterator::iterate): Resize the vector instead
	of reserving it.
	* common/byte-vector.h: Include "common/def-vector.h".
	(wchar_iterator::m_out): Now a gdb::def_vector<gdb_wchar_t>.
	* cli/cli-dump.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(dump_memory_to_file, restore_binary_file): Use gdb::byte_vector.
	* common/byte-vector.h: New file.
	* common/def-vector.h: New file.
	* common/default-init-alloc.h: New file.
	* dwarf2loc.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(rw_pieced_value): Use gdb::byte_vector, and resize the vector
	instead of reserving it.
	* dwarf2read.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(data_buf::m_vec): Now a gdb::byte_vector.
	* gdb_regex.c: Include "common/def-vector.h".
	(compiled_regex::compiled_regex): Use gdb::def_vector<char>.
	* mi/mi-main.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(mi_cmd_data_read_memory): Use gdb::byte_vector.
	* printcmd.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(print_scalar_formatted): Use gdb::byte_vector.
	* valprint.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
	(maybe_negate_by_bytes, print_decimal_chars): Use
	gdb::byte_vector.
---
 gdb/ChangeLog                   | 28 +++++++++++++++++
 gdb/ada-lang.c                  | 16 +++++-----
 gdb/charset.c                   |  2 +-
 gdb/charset.h                   |  4 +--
 gdb/cli/cli-dump.c              | 16 +++++-----
 gdb/common/byte-vector.h        | 62 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 gdb/common/def-vector.h         | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 gdb/common/default-init-alloc.h | 67 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 gdb/dwarf2loc.c                 |  7 +++--
 gdb/dwarf2read.c                |  3 +-
 gdb/gdb_regex.c                 |  7 +++--
 gdb/mi/mi-main.c                |  5 +--
 gdb/printcmd.c                  |  3 +-
 gdb/valprint.c                  |  5 +--
 14 files changed, 230 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 gdb/common/byte-vector.h
 create mode 100644 gdb/common/def-vector.h
 create mode 100644 gdb/common/default-init-alloc.h
  

Comments

Simon Marchi Sept. 9, 2017, 7:11 p.m. UTC | #1
On 2017-06-14 12:21 PM, Pedro Alves wrote:
> On 06/14/2017 09:39 AM, Simon Marchi wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for the detailed explanation.  It's all very logical, but it's
>> also full of small details essential to really understand what's happening.
> 
> Yeah...  As custom with "library" code, thankfully uses of the types
> can remain oblivious to how the types work under the hood.
> 
> I've pushed the patch in now, with the trivial adjustments to both
> dwarf2loc.c, after Andreas' series, and to make the new int128_t printing
> code use gdb::byte_vector.

Hi Pedro,

I am looking at Tom's recent patch that uses def_vector, and I am wondering
if there should be a check somewhere to make sure we don't use the
default_init_allocator with non-default-constructible types.  Let's say we use
def_vector with a trivial type, and then we later decide to make that type
non-trivial by defining a constructor.  It looks like it would still build,
but I suppose we shouldn't use that type in a def_vector (for the same reason
that we shouldn't allocate it with malloc).  It could easily go unnoticed for
a while.

Simon
  
Pedro Alves Sept. 13, 2017, 1:30 p.m. UTC | #2
On 09/09/2017 08:11 PM, Simon Marchi wrote:
> On 2017-06-14 12:21 PM, Pedro Alves wrote:
>> On 06/14/2017 09:39 AM, Simon Marchi wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for the detailed explanation.  It's all very logical, but it's
>>> also full of small details essential to really understand what's happening.
>>
>> Yeah...  As custom with "library" code, thankfully uses of the types
>> can remain oblivious to how the types work under the hood.
>>
>> I've pushed the patch in now, with the trivial adjustments to both
>> dwarf2loc.c, after Andreas' series, and to make the new int128_t printing
>> code use gdb::byte_vector.
> 
> Hi Pedro,
> 
> I am looking at Tom's recent patch that uses def_vector, and I am wondering
> if there should be a check somewhere to make sure we don't use the
> default_init_allocator with non-default-constructible types.  Let's say we use
> def_vector with a trivial type, and then we later decide to make that type
> non-trivial by defining a constructor.  It looks like it would still build,
> but I suppose we shouldn't use that type in a def_vector (for the same reason
> that we shouldn't allocate it with malloc).  It could easily go unnoticed for
> a while.

It'd be unnecessary to use def_vector, but also harmless.
value vs default initialization only makes a difference for types _without_
constructors.  Default initialization of a type with a default
constructor also runs the default constructor, just like value
initialization.

Thanks,
Pedro Alves
  

Patch

diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 8eb9e06..07862c8 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,31 @@ 
+2017-06-14  Pedro Alves  <palves@redhat.com>
+
+	* ada-lang.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(ada_value_primitive_packed_val): Use gdb::byte_vector.
+	* charset.c (wchar_iterator::iterate): Resize the vector instead
+	of reserving it.
+	* common/byte-vector.h: Include "common/def-vector.h".
+	(wchar_iterator::m_out): Now a gdb::def_vector<gdb_wchar_t>.
+	* cli/cli-dump.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(dump_memory_to_file, restore_binary_file): Use gdb::byte_vector.
+	* common/byte-vector.h: New file.
+	* common/def-vector.h: New file.
+	* common/default-init-alloc.h: New file.
+	* dwarf2loc.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(rw_pieced_value): Use gdb::byte_vector, and resize the vector
+	instead of reserving it.
+	* dwarf2read.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(data_buf::m_vec): Now a gdb::byte_vector.
+	* gdb_regex.c: Include "common/def-vector.h".
+	(compiled_regex::compiled_regex): Use gdb::def_vector<char>.
+	* mi/mi-main.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(mi_cmd_data_read_memory): Use gdb::byte_vector.
+	* printcmd.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(print_scalar_formatted): Use gdb::byte_vector.
+	* valprint.c: Include "common/byte-vector.h".
+	(maybe_negate_by_bytes, print_decimal_chars): Use
+	gdb::byte_vector.
+
 2017-06-13  Simon Marchi  <simon.marchi@ericsson.com>
 
 	* darwin-nat.c: Include "nat/fork-inferior.h".
diff --git a/gdb/ada-lang.c b/gdb/ada-lang.c
index 57c670e..ea60df2 100644
--- a/gdb/ada-lang.c
+++ b/gdb/ada-lang.c
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ 
 #include "arch-utils.h"
 #include "cli/cli-utils.h"
 #include "common/function-view.h"
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 /* Define whether or not the C operator '/' truncates towards zero for
    differently signed operands (truncation direction is undefined in C).
@@ -2567,8 +2568,7 @@  ada_value_primitive_packed_val (struct value *obj, const gdb_byte *valaddr,
   gdb_byte *unpacked;
   const int is_scalar = is_scalar_type (type);
   const int is_big_endian = gdbarch_bits_big_endian (get_type_arch (type));
-  std::unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> staging;
-  int staging_len = 0;
+  gdb::byte_vector staging;
 
   type = ada_check_typedef (type);
 
@@ -2586,14 +2586,14 @@  ada_value_primitive_packed_val (struct value *obj, const gdb_byte *valaddr,
 	 packed, and therefore maybe not at a byte boundary.  So, what
 	 we do, is unpack the data into a byte-aligned buffer, and then
 	 use that buffer as our object's value for resolving the type.  */
-      staging_len = (bit_size + HOST_CHAR_BIT - 1) / HOST_CHAR_BIT;
-      staging.reset (new gdb_byte[staging_len]);
+      int staging_len = (bit_size + HOST_CHAR_BIT - 1) / HOST_CHAR_BIT;
+      staging.resize (staging_len);
 
       ada_unpack_from_contents (src, bit_offset, bit_size,
-			        staging.get (), staging_len,
+			        staging.data (), staging.size (),
 				is_big_endian, has_negatives (type),
 				is_scalar);
-      type = resolve_dynamic_type (type, staging.get (), 0);
+      type = resolve_dynamic_type (type, staging.data (), 0);
       if (TYPE_LENGTH (type) < (bit_size + HOST_CHAR_BIT - 1) / HOST_CHAR_BIT)
 	{
 	  /* This happens when the length of the object is dynamic,
@@ -2656,12 +2656,12 @@  ada_value_primitive_packed_val (struct value *obj, const gdb_byte *valaddr,
       return v;
     }
 
-  if (staging != NULL && staging_len == TYPE_LENGTH (type))
+  if (staging.size () == TYPE_LENGTH (type))
     {
       /* Small short-cut: If we've unpacked the data into a buffer
 	 of the same size as TYPE's length, then we can reuse that,
 	 instead of doing the unpacking again.  */
-      memcpy (unpacked, staging.get (), staging_len);
+      memcpy (unpacked, staging.data (), staging.size ());
     }
   else
     ada_unpack_from_contents (src, bit_offset, bit_size,
diff --git a/gdb/charset.c b/gdb/charset.c
index f55e482..dbe46a4 100644
--- a/gdb/charset.c
+++ b/gdb/charset.c
@@ -673,7 +673,7 @@  wchar_iterator::iterate (enum wchar_iterate_result *out_result,
 
 	      ++out_request;
 	      if (out_request > m_out.size ())
-		m_out.reserve (out_request);
+		m_out.resize (out_request);
 	      continue;
 
 	    case EINVAL:
diff --git a/gdb/charset.h b/gdb/charset.h
index 51180e3..821974a 100644
--- a/gdb/charset.h
+++ b/gdb/charset.h
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ 
 #ifndef CHARSET_H
 #define CHARSET_H
 
-#include <vector>
+#include "common/def-vector.h"
 
 /* If the target program uses a different character set than the host,
    GDB has some support for translating between the two; GDB converts
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@  class wchar_iterator
   size_t m_width;
 
   /* The output buffer.  */
-  std::vector<gdb_wchar_t> m_out;
+  gdb::def_vector<gdb_wchar_t> m_out;
 };
 
 
diff --git a/gdb/cli/cli-dump.c b/gdb/cli/cli-dump.c
index 213622d..d6d4aab 100644
--- a/gdb/cli/cli-dump.c
+++ b/gdb/cli/cli-dump.c
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ 
 #include "cli/cli-utils.h"
 #include "gdb_bfd.h"
 #include "filestuff.h"
-
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 static const char *
 scan_expression_with_cleanup (const char **cmd, const char *def)
@@ -230,17 +230,17 @@  dump_memory_to_file (const char *cmd, const char *mode, const char *file_format)
 
   /* FIXME: Should use read_memory_partial() and a magic blocking
      value.  */
-  std::unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[count]);
-  read_memory (lo, buf.get (), count);
+  gdb::byte_vector buf (count);
+  read_memory (lo, buf.data (), count);
   
   /* Have everything.  Open/write the data.  */
   if (file_format == NULL || strcmp (file_format, "binary") == 0)
     {
-      dump_binary_file (filename, mode, buf.get (), count);
+      dump_binary_file (filename, mode, buf.data (), count);
     }
   else
     {
-      dump_bfd_file (filename, mode, file_format, lo, buf.get (), count);
+      dump_bfd_file (filename, mode, file_format, lo, buf.data (), count);
     }
 
   do_cleanups (old_cleanups);
@@ -545,13 +545,13 @@  restore_binary_file (const char *filename, struct callback_data *data)
     perror_with_name (filename);
 
   /* Now allocate a buffer and read the file contents.  */
-  std::unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[len]);
-  if (fread (buf.get (), 1, len, file) != len)
+  gdb::byte_vector buf (len);
+  if (fread (buf.data (), 1, len, file) != len)
     perror_with_name (filename);
 
   /* Now write the buffer into target memory.  */
   len = target_write_memory (data->load_start + data->load_offset,
-			     buf.get (), len);
+			     buf.data (), len);
   if (len != 0)
     warning (_("restore: memory write failed (%s)."), safe_strerror (len));
   do_cleanups (cleanup);
diff --git a/gdb/common/byte-vector.h b/gdb/common/byte-vector.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c17b14d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/common/byte-vector.h
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ 
+/* Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef COMMON_BYTE_VECTOR_H
+#define COMMON_BYTE_VECTOR_H
+
+#include "common/def-vector.h"
+
+namespace gdb {
+
+/* byte_vector is a gdb_byte std::vector with a custom allocator that
+   unlike std::vector<gdb_byte> does not zero-initialize new elements
+   by default when the vector is created/resized.  This is what you
+   usually want when working with byte buffers, since if you're
+   creating or growing a buffer you'll most surely want to fill it in
+   with data, in which case zero-initialization would be a
+   pessimization.  For example:
+
+     gdb::byte_vector buf (some_large_size);
+     fill_with_data (buf.data (), buf.size ());
+
+   On the odd case you do need zero initialization, then you can still
+   call the overloads that specify an explicit value, like:
+
+     gdb::byte_vector buf (some_initial_size, 0);
+     buf.resize (a_bigger_size, 0);
+
+   (Or use std::vector<gdb_byte> instead.)
+
+   Note that unlike std::vector<gdb_byte>, function local
+   gdb::byte_vector objects constructed with an initial size like:
+
+     gdb::byte_vector buf (some_size);
+     fill_with_data (buf.data (), buf.size ());
+
+   usually compile down to the exact same as:
+
+     std::unique_ptr<byte[]> buf (new gdb_byte[some_size]);
+     fill_with_data (buf.get (), some_size);
+
+   with the former having the advantage of being a bit more readable,
+   and providing the whole std::vector API, if you end up needing it.
+*/
+using byte_vector = gdb::def_vector<gdb_byte>;
+
+} /* namespace gdb */
+
+#endif /* COMMON_DEF_VECTOR_H */
diff --git a/gdb/common/def-vector.h b/gdb/common/def-vector.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab9331f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/common/def-vector.h
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ 
+/* Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef COMMON_DEF_VECTOR_H
+#define COMMON_DEF_VECTOR_H
+
+#include <vector>
+#include "common/default-init-alloc.h"
+
+namespace gdb {
+
+/* A vector that uses an allocator that default constructs using
+   default-initialization rather than value-initialization.  The idea
+   is to use this when you don't want zero-initialization of elements
+   of vectors of trivial types.  E.g., byte buffers.  */
+
+template<typename T> using def_vector
+  = std::vector<T, gdb::default_init_allocator<T>>;
+
+} /* namespace gdb */
+
+#endif /* COMMON_DEF_VECTOR_H */
diff --git a/gdb/common/default-init-alloc.h b/gdb/common/default-init-alloc.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fb852f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/common/default-init-alloc.h
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ 
+/* Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   This file is part of GDB.
+
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+   (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+   GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef COMMON_DEFAULT_INIT_ALLOC_H
+#define COMMON_DEFAULT_INIT_ALLOC_H
+
+namespace gdb {
+
+/* An allocator that default constructs using default-initialization
+   rather than value-initialization.  The idea is to use this when you
+   don't want to default construct elements of containers of trivial
+   types using zero-initialization.  */
+
+/* Mostly as implementation convenience, this is implemented as an
+   adapter that given an allocator A, overrides 'A::construct()'.  'A'
+   defaults to std::allocator<T>.  */
+
+template<typename T, typename A = std::allocator<T>>
+class default_init_allocator : public A
+{
+public:
+  /* Pull in A's ctors.  */
+  using A::A;
+
+  /* Override rebind.  */
+  template<typename U>
+  struct rebind
+  {
+    /* A couple helpers just to make it a bit more readable.  */
+    typedef std::allocator_traits<A> traits_;
+    typedef typename traits_::template rebind_alloc<U> alloc_;
+
+    /* This is what we're after.  */
+    typedef default_init_allocator<U, alloc_> other;
+  };
+
+  /* Make the base allocator's construct method(s) visible.  */
+  using A::construct;
+
+  /* .. and provide an override/overload for the case of default
+     construction (i.e., no arguments).  This is where we construct
+     with default-init.  */
+  template <typename U>
+  void construct (U *ptr)
+    noexcept (std::is_nothrow_default_constructible<U>::value)
+  {
+    ::new ((void *) ptr) U; /* default-init */
+  }
+};
+
+} /* namespace gdb */
+
+#endif /* COMMON_DEFAULT_INIT_ALLOC_H */
diff --git a/gdb/dwarf2loc.c b/gdb/dwarf2loc.c
index 059fcfe..08b0aa2 100644
--- a/gdb/dwarf2loc.c
+++ b/gdb/dwarf2loc.c
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ 
 #include <vector>
 #include <unordered_set>
 #include "common/underlying.h"
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 extern int dwarf_always_disassemble;
 
@@ -1776,7 +1777,7 @@  rw_pieced_value (struct value *v, struct value *from)
   const gdb_byte *from_contents;
   struct piece_closure *c
     = (struct piece_closure *) value_computed_closure (v);
-  std::vector<gdb_byte> buffer;
+  gdb::byte_vector buffer;
   int bits_big_endian
     = gdbarch_bits_big_endian (get_type_arch (value_type (v)));
 
@@ -1847,7 +1848,7 @@  rw_pieced_value (struct value *v, struct value *from)
 	      bits_to_skip += p->offset;
 
 	    this_size = bits_to_bytes (bits_to_skip, this_size_bits);
-	    buffer.reserve (this_size);
+	    buffer.resize (this_size);
 
 	    if (from == NULL)
 	      {
@@ -1928,7 +1929,7 @@  rw_pieced_value (struct value *v, struct value *from)
 	      }
 
 	    this_size = bits_to_bytes (bits_to_skip, this_size_bits);
-	    buffer.reserve (this_size);
+	    buffer.resize (this_size);
 
 	    if (from == NULL)
 	      {
diff --git a/gdb/dwarf2read.c b/gdb/dwarf2read.c
index 3f872b7..abe14b2 100644
--- a/gdb/dwarf2read.c
+++ b/gdb/dwarf2read.c
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ 
 #include "common/function-view.h"
 #include "common/gdb_optional.h"
 #include "common/underlying.h"
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
@@ -23245,7 +23246,7 @@  private:
     return &*m_vec.end () - size;
   }
 
-  std::vector<gdb_byte> m_vec;
+  gdb::byte_vector m_vec;
 };
 
 /* An entry in the symbol table.  */
diff --git a/gdb/gdb_regex.c b/gdb/gdb_regex.c
index 2e376e3..55c3980 100644
--- a/gdb/gdb_regex.c
+++ b/gdb/gdb_regex.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ 
 
 #include "defs.h"
 #include "gdb_regex.h"
+#include "common/def-vector.h"
 
 compiled_regex::compiled_regex (const char *regex, int cflags,
 				const char *message)
@@ -28,10 +29,10 @@  compiled_regex::compiled_regex (const char *regex, int cflags,
   if (code != 0)
     {
       size_t length = regerror (code, &m_pattern, NULL, 0);
-      std::unique_ptr<char[]> err (new char[length]);
+      gdb::def_vector<char> err (length);
 
-      regerror (code, &m_pattern, err.get (), length);
-      error (("%s: %s"), message, err.get ());
+      regerror (code, &m_pattern, err.data (), length);
+      error (("%s: %s"), message, err.data ());
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/gdb/mi/mi-main.c b/gdb/mi/mi-main.c
index 755fbab..53289bb 100644
--- a/gdb/mi/mi-main.c
+++ b/gdb/mi/mi-main.c
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ 
 #include "gdbcmd.h"
 #include "observer.h"
 #include "common/gdb_optional.h"
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include "run-time-clock.h"
@@ -1466,12 +1467,12 @@  mi_cmd_data_read_memory (const char *command, char **argv, int argc)
   /* Create a buffer and read it in.  */
   total_bytes = word_size * nr_rows * nr_cols;
 
-  std::unique_ptr<gdb_byte[]> mbuf (new gdb_byte[total_bytes]);
+  gdb::byte_vector mbuf (total_bytes);
 
   /* Dispatch memory reads to the topmost target, not the flattened
      current_target.  */
   nr_bytes = target_read (current_target.beneath,
-			  TARGET_OBJECT_MEMORY, NULL, mbuf.get (),
+			  TARGET_OBJECT_MEMORY, NULL, mbuf.data (),
 			  addr, total_bytes);
   if (nr_bytes <= 0)
     error (_("Unable to read memory."));
diff --git a/gdb/printcmd.c b/gdb/printcmd.c
index 152c2c6..f392e6d 100644
--- a/gdb/printcmd.c
+++ b/gdb/printcmd.c
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ 
 #include "cli/cli-script.h"
 #include "format.h"
 #include "source.h"
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 #ifdef TUI
 #include "tui/tui.h"		/* For tui_active et al.   */
@@ -407,7 +408,7 @@  print_scalar_formatted (const gdb_byte *valaddr, struct type *type,
   /* Historically gdb has printed floats by first casting them to a
      long, and then printing the long.  PR cli/16242 suggests changing
      this to using C-style hex float format.  */
-  std::vector<gdb_byte> converted_float_bytes;
+  gdb::byte_vector converted_float_bytes;
   if (TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_FLT
       && (options->format == 'o'
 	  || options->format == 'x'
diff --git a/gdb/valprint.c b/gdb/valprint.c
index e627e85..c10dade 100644
--- a/gdb/valprint.c
+++ b/gdb/valprint.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ 
 #include "typeprint.h"
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include "common/byte-vector.h"
 
 /* Maximum number of wchars returned from wchar_iterate.  */
 #define MAX_WCHARS 4
@@ -1721,7 +1722,7 @@  print_octal_chars (struct ui_file *stream, const gdb_byte *valaddr,
 static bool
 maybe_negate_by_bytes (const gdb_byte *bytes, unsigned len,
 		       enum bfd_endian byte_order,
-		       std::vector<gdb_byte> *out_vec)
+		       gdb::byte_vector *out_vec)
 {
   gdb_byte sign_byte;
   if (byte_order == BFD_ENDIAN_BIG)
@@ -1780,7 +1781,7 @@  print_decimal_chars (struct ui_file *stream, const gdb_byte *valaddr,
   int dummy;
   int flip;
 
-  std::vector<gdb_byte> negated_bytes;
+  gdb::byte_vector negated_bytes;
   if (is_signed
       && maybe_negate_by_bytes (valaddr, len, byte_order, &negated_bytes))
     {