how to know the memory footprint of my binary executable

Question

I wonder if there is a way to know the memory footprint of my binary executable coded in C language.

informations about binary executable : compiled with toolchain of OpenWrt branch (Attitude Adjustment) and its architecture is x86

Answer 1

On a Linux/Unix system, you can use the size command for this, eg on my Ubuntu system

size /bin/sh
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
 102134    1776   11272  115182   1c1ee /bin/sh

Since this is OpenWrt, if you have a different architecture, eg MIPS or ARM or something else, you must pick the size command of the appropriate toolchain, of course.

The sections have the following meaning

• text denotes the code size of the executable
• data is initialized data section, eg variables, like int v = 17; or char name[] = "Tom";
• bss is the uninitialized or simply 0 initiailized section, int a; or double amount;
• dec is the overall size, in this case 102134 + 1776 + 11272 = 115182
• hex finally is also the overall size, as a hex value 1c1ee = 115182

But this does not include the stack or any dynamic heap memory. To see the overall memory usage at runtime, you must look at ps or top output.

Answer 2

要了解运行时的内存使用情况，在Linux系统上可以使用valgrind的memcheck工具。

Answer 3

top

and advanced one called

htop

are the tools to monitor any executable runing in linux system

Answer 4

Use the Command size <binary> to get the memory footprint of your binary executable. Check the size manual ( man size ) for more information.