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Testing an Application for Memory Leaks Using Valgrind

In this hands-on lab, you will be evaluating an application for memory related issues. You have two applications with possible memory leak or other memory errors. In order to evaluate the applications, you will use the `valgrind --tool=memcheck` utiity to monitor the memory usage for each application. For the final task, you will launch a different application and use the `valgrind --tool=cachegrind` command to determine if the application in question has memory caching issues. *This course is not approved or sponsored by Red Hat.*

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Advanced
Duration
Clock icon 45m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 26, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Evaluate the evolk Application

    1. Use the valgrind memcheck.
    2. Include the following parameter information. You can refer to the Valgrind help or man pages for details.
      • Which tool to execute.
      • If the command should check for memory leaks.
      • Should reachable memory issues be included.
      • Set the number of callers to 20.
      • Track open file descriptors.
      • Write the results to stdout.
    3. Review the command output to determine if there are any memory leaks or errors.

  2. Challenge

    Evaluate the evoerr Application

    1. Use the valgrind memcheck utility.
    2. Include the following information. You can refer to the Valgrind help or man pages for details.
      • Which tool to execute.
      • If the command should check for memory leaks.
      • Should reachable memory issues be included.
      • Set the number of callers to 20.
      • Track open file descriptors.
      • Write the results to a log file.
    3. Review the log file and determine if any the application has any errors listed.

  3. Challenge

    Evaluate the evoche Application

    1. Use the valgrind cachegrind utility.
    2. Include the following information. You can refer to the Valgrind help or man pages for details.
      • Which tool to execute.
      • Write the results to a log file.
    3. Review the log file using cat, less or more, or a text editor checking for any misses.
    4. Use the cg_annotate command to review the cachegrind.out* file and determine if any the application has any errors listed.
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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