Merging upstream version 1.46.3.

Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>

3 files changed, 1344 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/libnetdata/aral/README.md b/src/libnetdata/aral/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d999e820a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libnetdata/aral/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+<!--
+title: "Array Allocator"
+custom_edit_url: https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/libnetdata/aral/README.md
+sidebar_label: "Array allocator"
+learn_status: "Published"
+learn_topic_type: "Tasks"
+learn_rel_path: "Developers/libnetdata"
+-->
+
+# Array Allocator
+
+Come on! Array allocators are embedded in libc! Why do we need such a thing in Netdata?
+
+Well, we have a couple of problems to solve:
+
+1. **Fragmentation** - It is important for Netdata to keeps its overall memory footprint as low as possible. libc does an amazing job when the same thread allocates and frees some memory. But it simply cannot do better without knowing the specifics of the application when memory is allocated and freed randomly between threads.
+2. **Speed** - Especially when allocations and de-allocations happen across threads, the speed penalty is tremendous.
+
+In Netdata we have a few moments that are very tough. Imagine collecting 1 million metrics per second. You have a buffer for each metric and put append new points there. This works beautifully, of course! But then, when the buffers get full, imagine the situation. You suddenly need 1 million buffers, at once!
+
+To solve this problem we first spread out the buffers. So, the first time each metric asks for a buffer, it gets a smaller one. We added logic there to spread them as evenly as possible across time. Solved? Not exactly!
+
+We have 3 tiers for each metric. For the metrics of tier 0 (per second resolution) we have a max buffer for 1024 points and every new metrics gets a random size between 3 points and 1024. So they are distributed across time. For 1 million metrics, we have about 1000 buffers beings created every second.
+
+But at some point, the end of the minute will come, and suddenly all the metrics will need a new buffer for tier 1 (per minute). Oops! We will spread tier 1 buffers across time too, but the first minute is a tough one. We really need 1 million buffers instantly.
+
+And if that minute happens to also be the beginning of an hour... tier 2 (per hour) kicks in. For that instant we are going to need 2 million buffers instantly.
+
+The problem becomes even bigger when we collect 2, or even 10 million metrics...
+
+So solve it, Netdata uses a special implementation of an array allocator that is tightly integrated with the structures we need.
+
+## Features
+
+1. Malloc, or MMAP modes. File based MMAP is also supported to put the data in file backed up shared memory.
+2. Fully asynchronous operations. There are just a couple of points where spin-locks protect a few counters and pointers.
+3. Optional defragmenter, that once enabled it will make free operation slower while trying to maintain a sorted list of fragments to offer first during allocations. The defragmenter can be enabled / disabled at run time. The defragmenter can hurt performance on application with intense turn-around of allocation, like Netdata dbengine caches. So, it is disabled by default.
+4. Without the defragmenter enabled, ARAL still tries to keep pages full, but the depth of the search is limited to 3 pages (so, a page with a free slot will either become 1st, 2nd, or 3rd). At the same time, during allocations, ARAL will evaluate the first 2 pages to find the one that is more full than the other, to use it for the new allocation.
+
+## How it works
+
+Allocations are organized in pages. Pages have a minimum size (a system page, usually 4KB) and a maximum defined by for each different kind of object.
+
+Initially every page is free. When an allocation request is made, the free space is split, and the first element is reserved. Free space is now considered there rest.
+
+This continuous until the page gets full, where a new page is allocated and the process is repeated.
+
+Each allocation returned has a pointer appended to it. The pointer points to the page the allocation belongs to.
+
+When a pointer is freed, the page it belongs is identified, its space is marked free, and it is prepended in a single linked list that resides in the page itself. So, each page has its own list of free slots to use.
+
+Pages are then on another linked list. This is a double linked list and at its beginning has the pages with free space and at the end the pages that are full. 
+
+When the defragmenter is enabled the pages double linked list is also sorted, like this: the fewer the free slots on a page, the earlier in the linked list the page will be, except if it does not have any free slot, in which case it will be at the end. So, the defragmenter tries to have pages full.
+
+When a page is entirerly free, it is given back to the system immediately. There is no caching of free pages.
+
+
+Parallelism is achieved like this:
+
+When some threads are waiting for a page to be allocated, free operations are allowed. If a free operation happens before a new page is allocated, any waiting thread will get the slot that is freed on another page.
+
+Free operations happen in parallel, even for the same page. There is a spin-lock on each page to protect the base pointer of the page's free slots single linked list. But, this is instant. All preparative work happens lockless, then to add the free slot to the page, the page spinlock is acquired, the free slot is prepended to the linked list on the page, the spinlock is released. Such free operations on different pages are totally parallel.
+
+Once the free operation on a page has finished, the pages double linked list spinlock is acquired to put the page first on that linked list. If the defragmenter is enabled, the spinlock is retained for a little longer, to find the exact position of the page in the linked list.
+
+During allocations, the reverse order is used. First get the pages double linked list spinlock, get the first page and decrement its free slots counter, then release the spinlock. If the first page does not have any free slots, a page allocation is spawn, without any locks acquired. All threads are spinning waiting for a page with free slots, either from the newly allocated one or from a free operation that may happen in parallel.
+
+Once a page is acquired, each thread locks its own page to get the first free slot and releases the lock immediately. This is guaranteed to succeed, because when the page was given to that thread its free slots counter was decremented. So, there is a free slot for every thread that got that page. All preparative work to return a pointer to the caller is done lock free. Allocations on different pages are done in parallel, without any intervention between them.
+
+
+## What to expect
+
+Systems not designed for parallelism achieve their top performance single threaded. The single threaded speed is the baseline. Adding more threads makes them slower.
+
+The baseline for ARAL is the following, the included stress test when running single threaded:
+
+```
+Running stress test of 1 threads, with 10000 elements each, for 5 seconds...
+2023-01-29 17:04:50: netdata INFO  : TH[0] : set name of thread 1314983 to TH[0]
+ARAL executes 12.27 M malloc and 12.26 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 12.29 M malloc and 12.29 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 12.30 M malloc and 12.30 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 12.30 M malloc and 12.29 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 12.29 M malloc and 12.29 M free operations/s
+Waiting the threads to finish...
+2023-01-29 17:04:55: netdata INFO  : MAIN : ARAL: did 61487356 malloc, 61487356 free, using 1 threads, in 5003808 usecs
+```
+
+The same test with 2 threads, both threads on the same ARAL of course. As you see performance improved:
+
+```
+Running stress test of 2 threads, with 10000 elements each, for 5 seconds...
+2023-01-29 17:05:25: netdata INFO  : TH[0] : set name of thread 1315537 to TH[0]
+2023-01-29 17:05:25: netdata INFO  : TH[1] : set name of thread 1315538 to TH[1]
+ARAL executes 17.75 M malloc and 17.73 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 17.93 M malloc and 17.93 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 18.17 M malloc and 18.18 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 18.33 M malloc and 18.32 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 18.36 M malloc and 18.36 M free operations/s
+Waiting the threads to finish...
+2023-01-29 17:05:30: netdata INFO  : MAIN : ARAL: did 90976190 malloc, 90976190 free, using 2 threads, in 5029462 usecs
+```
+
+The same test with 4 threads:
+
+```
+Running stress test of 4 threads, with 10000 elements each, for 5 seconds...
+2023-01-29 17:10:12: netdata INFO  : TH[0] : set name of thread 1319552 to TH[0]
+2023-01-29 17:10:12: netdata INFO  : TH[1] : set name of thread 1319553 to TH[1]
+2023-01-29 17:10:12: netdata INFO  : TH[2] : set name of thread 1319554 to TH[2]
+2023-01-29 17:10:12: netdata INFO  : TH[3] : set name of thread 1319555 to TH[3]
+ARAL executes 19.95 M malloc and 19.91 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 20.08 M malloc and 20.08 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 20.85 M malloc and 20.85 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 20.84 M malloc and 20.84 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 21.37 M malloc and 21.37 M free operations/s
+Waiting the threads to finish...
+2023-01-29 17:10:17: netdata INFO  : MAIN : ARAL: did 103549747 malloc, 103549747 free, using 4 threads, in 5023325 usecs
+```
+
+The same with 8 threads:
+
+```
+Running stress test of 8 threads, with 10000 elements each, for 5 seconds...
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[0] : set name of thread 1317608 to TH[0]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[1] : set name of thread 1317609 to TH[1]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[2] : set name of thread 1317610 to TH[2]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[3] : set name of thread 1317611 to TH[3]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[4] : set name of thread 1317612 to TH[4]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[5] : set name of thread 1317613 to TH[5]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[6] : set name of thread 1317614 to TH[6]
+2023-01-29 17:07:06: netdata INFO  : TH[7] : set name of thread 1317615 to TH[7]
+ARAL executes 15.73 M malloc and 15.66 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 13.95 M malloc and 13.94 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 15.59 M malloc and 15.58 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 15.49 M malloc and 15.49 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 16.16 M malloc and 16.16 M free operations/s
+Waiting the threads to finish...
+2023-01-29 17:07:11: netdata INFO  : MAIN : ARAL: did 78427750 malloc, 78427750 free, using 8 threads, in 5088591 usecs
+```
+
+The same with 16 threads:
+
+```
+Running stress test of 16 threads, with 10000 elements each, for 5 seconds...
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[0] : set name of thread 1318663 to TH[0]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[1] : set name of thread 1318664 to TH[1]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[2] : set name of thread 1318665 to TH[2]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[3] : set name of thread 1318666 to TH[3]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[4] : set name of thread 1318667 to TH[4]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[5] : set name of thread 1318668 to TH[5]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[6] : set name of thread 1318669 to TH[6]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[7] : set name of thread 1318670 to TH[7]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[8] : set name of thread 1318671 to TH[8]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[9] : set name of thread 1318672 to TH[9]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[10] : set name of thread 1318673 to TH[10]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[11] : set name of thread 1318674 to TH[11]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[12] : set name of thread 1318675 to TH[12]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[13] : set name of thread 1318676 to TH[13]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[14] : set name of thread 1318677 to TH[14]
+2023-01-29 17:08:04: netdata INFO  : TH[15] : set name of thread 1318678 to TH[15]
+ARAL executes 11.77 M malloc and 11.62 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 12.80 M malloc and 12.81 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 13.26 M malloc and 13.25 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 13.30 M malloc and 13.29 M free operations/s
+ARAL executes 13.23 M malloc and 13.25 M free operations/s
+Waiting the threads to finish...
+2023-01-29 17:08:09: netdata INFO  : MAIN : ARAL: did 65302122 malloc, 65302122 free, using 16 threads, in 5066009 usecs
+```
+
+As you can see, the top performance is with 4 threads, almost double the single thread speed.
+16 threads performance is still better than single threaded, despite the intense concurrency.
diff --git a/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.c b/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64b63d8e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.c
@@ -0,0 +1,1098 @@
+#include "../libnetdata.h"
+#include "aral.h"
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+#define TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS , const char *file, const char *function, size_t line
+#define TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS , file, function, line
+#else
+#define TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS
+#define TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS
+#endif
+
+#define ARAL_FREE_PAGES_DELTA_TO_REARRANGE_LIST 5
+
+// max file size
+#define ARAL_MAX_PAGE_SIZE_MMAP (1*1024*1024*1024)
+
+// max malloc size
+// optimal at current versions of libc is up to 256k
+// ideal to have the same overhead as libc is 4k
+#define ARAL_MAX_PAGE_SIZE_MALLOC (65*1024)
+
+typedef struct aral_free {
+    size_t size;
+    struct aral_free *next;
+} ARAL_FREE;
+
+typedef struct aral_page {
+    size_t size;                    // the allocation size of the page
+    const char *filename;
+    uint8_t *data;
+
+    uint32_t free_elements_to_move_first;
+    uint32_t max_elements;          // the number of elements that can fit on this page
+
+    struct {
+        uint32_t used_elements;         // the number of used elements on this page
+        uint32_t free_elements;         // the number of free elements on this page
+
+        struct aral_page *prev; // the prev page on the list
+        struct aral_page *next; // the next page on the list
+    } aral_lock;
+
+    struct {
+        SPINLOCK spinlock;
+        ARAL_FREE *list;
+    } free;
+
+} ARAL_PAGE;
+
+typedef enum {
+    ARAL_LOCKLESS = (1 << 0),
+    ARAL_DEFRAGMENT = (1 << 1),
+    ARAL_ALLOCATED_STATS = (1 << 2),
+} ARAL_OPTIONS;
+
+struct aral {
+    struct {
+        char name[ARAL_MAX_NAME + 1];
+
+        ARAL_OPTIONS options;
+
+        size_t element_size;            // calculated to take into account ARAL overheads
+        size_t max_allocation_size;     // calculated in bytes
+        size_t max_page_elements;       // calculated
+        size_t page_ptr_offset;         // calculated
+        size_t natural_page_size;       // calculated
+
+        size_t initial_page_elements;
+        size_t requested_element_size;
+        size_t requested_max_page_size;
+
+        struct {
+            bool enabled;
+            const char *filename;
+            char **cache_dir;
+        } mmap;
+    } config;
+
+    struct {
+        SPINLOCK spinlock;
+        size_t file_number;             // for mmap
+        struct aral_page *pages;        // linked list of pages
+
+        size_t user_malloc_operations;
+        size_t user_free_operations;
+        size_t defragment_operations;
+        size_t defragment_linked_list_traversals;
+    } aral_lock;
+
+    struct {
+        SPINLOCK spinlock;
+        size_t allocating_elements;     // currently allocating elements
+        size_t allocation_size;         // current / next allocation size
+    } adders;
+
+    struct {
+        size_t allocators;              // the number of threads currently trying to allocate memory
+    } atomic;
+
+    struct aral_statistics *stats;
+};
+
+size_t aral_structures_from_stats(struct aral_statistics *stats) {
+    return __atomic_load_n(&stats->structures.allocated_bytes, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+}
+
+size_t aral_overhead_from_stats(struct aral_statistics *stats) {
+    return __atomic_load_n(&stats->malloc.allocated_bytes, __ATOMIC_RELAXED) -
+           __atomic_load_n(&stats->malloc.used_bytes, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+}
+
+size_t aral_overhead(ARAL *ar) {
+    return aral_overhead_from_stats(ar->stats);
+}
+
+size_t aral_structures(ARAL *ar) {
+    return aral_structures_from_stats(ar->stats);
+}
+
+struct aral_statistics *aral_statistics(ARAL *ar) {
+    return ar->stats;
+}
+
+#define ARAL_NATURAL_ALIGNMENT  (sizeof(uintptr_t) * 2)
+static inline size_t natural_alignment(size_t size, size_t alignment) {
+    if(unlikely(size % alignment))
+        size = size + alignment - (size % alignment);
+
+    return size;
+}
+
+static size_t aral_align_alloc_size(ARAL *ar, uint64_t size) {
+    if(size % ar->config.natural_page_size)
+        size += ar->config.natural_page_size - (size % ar->config.natural_page_size) ;
+
+    if(size % ar->config.element_size)
+        size -= size % ar->config.element_size;
+
+    return size;
+}
+
+static inline void aral_lock(ARAL *ar) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_lock(&ar->aral_lock.spinlock);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_unlock(ARAL *ar) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_unlock(&ar->aral_lock.spinlock);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_page_free_lock(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_lock(&page->free.spinlock);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_page_free_unlock(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_unlock(&page->free.spinlock);
+}
+
+static inline bool aral_adders_trylock(ARAL *ar) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        return spinlock_trylock(&ar->adders.spinlock);
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+static inline void aral_adders_lock(ARAL *ar) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_lock(&ar->adders.spinlock);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_adders_unlock(ARAL *ar) {
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_LOCKLESS)))
+        spinlock_unlock(&ar->adders.spinlock);
+}
+
+static void aral_delete_leftover_files(const char *name, const char *path, const char *required_prefix) {
+    DIR *dir = opendir(path);
+    if(!dir) return;
+
+    char full_path[FILENAME_MAX + 1];
+    size_t len = strlen(required_prefix);
+
+    struct dirent *de = NULL;
+    while((de = readdir(dir))) {
+        if(de->d_type == DT_DIR)
+            continue;
+
+        if(strncmp(de->d_name, required_prefix, len) != 0)
+            continue;
+
+        snprintfz(full_path, FILENAME_MAX, "%s/%s", path, de->d_name);
+        netdata_log_info("ARAL: '%s' removing left-over file '%s'", name, full_path);
+        if(unlikely(unlink(full_path) == -1))
+            netdata_log_error("ARAL: '%s' cannot delete file '%s'", name, full_path);
+    }
+
+    closedir(dir);
+}
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// check a free slot
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+static inline void aral_free_validate_internal_check(ARAL *ar, ARAL_FREE *fr) {
+    if(unlikely(fr->size < ar->config.element_size))
+        fatal("ARAL: '%s' free item of size %zu, less than the expected element size %zu",
+              ar->config.name, fr->size, ar->config.element_size);
+
+    if(unlikely(fr->size % ar->config.element_size))
+        fatal("ARAL: '%s' free item of size %zu is not multiple to element size %zu",
+              ar->config.name, fr->size, ar->config.element_size);
+}
+#else
+#define aral_free_validate_internal_check(ar, fr) debug_dummy()
+#endif
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// find the page a pointer belongs to
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+static inline ARAL_PAGE *find_page_with_allocation_internal_check(ARAL *ar, void *ptr) {
+    aral_lock(ar);
+
+    uintptr_t seeking = (uintptr_t)ptr;
+    ARAL_PAGE *page;
+
+    for(page = ar->aral_lock.pages; page ; page = page->aral_lock.next) {
+        if(unlikely(seeking >= (uintptr_t)page->data && seeking < (uintptr_t)page->data + page->size))
+            break;
+    }
+
+    aral_unlock(ar);
+
+    return page;
+}
+#endif
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// find a page with a free slot (there shouldn't be any)
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_ARAL_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+static inline ARAL_PAGE *find_page_with_free_slots_internal_check___with_aral_lock(ARAL *ar) {
+    ARAL_PAGE *page;
+
+    for(page = ar->aral_lock.pages; page ; page = page->next) {
+        if(page->aral_lock.free_elements)
+            break;
+
+        internal_fatal(page->size - page->aral_lock.used_elements * ar->config.element_size >= ar->config.element_size,
+                       "ARAL: '%s' a page is marked full, but it is not!", ar->config.name);
+
+        internal_fatal(page->size < page->aral_lock.used_elements * ar->config.element_size,
+                       "ARAL: '%s' a page has been overflown!", ar->config.name);
+    }
+
+    return page;
+}
+#endif
+
+size_t aral_next_allocation_size___adders_lock_needed(ARAL *ar) {
+    size_t size = ar->adders.allocation_size;
+
+    if(size > ar->config.max_allocation_size)
+        size = ar->config.max_allocation_size;
+    else
+        ar->adders.allocation_size = aral_align_alloc_size(ar, (uint64_t)ar->adders.allocation_size * 2);
+
+    return size;
+}
+
+static ARAL_PAGE *aral_create_page___no_lock_needed(ARAL *ar, size_t size TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+    ARAL_PAGE *page = callocz(1, sizeof(ARAL_PAGE));
+    spinlock_init(&page->free.spinlock);
+    page->size = size;
+    page->max_elements = page->size / ar->config.element_size;
+    page->aral_lock.free_elements = page->max_elements;
+    page->free_elements_to_move_first = page->max_elements / 4;
+    if(unlikely(page->free_elements_to_move_first < 1))
+        page->free_elements_to_move_first = 1;
+
+    __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocated_bytes, sizeof(ARAL_PAGE), __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+
+    if(unlikely(ar->config.mmap.enabled)) {
+        ar->aral_lock.file_number++;
+        char filename[FILENAME_MAX + 1];
+        snprintfz(filename, FILENAME_MAX, "%s/array_alloc.mmap/%s.%zu", *ar->config.mmap.cache_dir, ar->config.mmap.filename, ar->aral_lock.file_number);
+        page->filename = strdupz(filename);
+        page->data = netdata_mmap(page->filename, page->size, MAP_SHARED, 0, false, NULL);
+        if (unlikely(!page->data))
+            fatal("ARAL: '%s' cannot allocate aral buffer of size %zu on filename '%s'",
+                  ar->config.name, page->size, page->filename);
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.allocated_bytes, page->size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    }
+    else {
+#ifdef NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+        page->data = mallocz_int(page->size TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+#else
+        page->data = mallocz(page->size);
+#endif
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.allocated_bytes, page->size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    }
+
+    // link the free space to its page
+    ARAL_FREE *fr = (ARAL_FREE *)page->data;
+    fr->size = page->size;
+    fr->next = NULL;
+    page->free.list = fr;
+
+    aral_free_validate_internal_check(ar, fr);
+
+    return page;
+}
+
+void aral_del_page___no_lock_needed(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+
+    // free it
+    if (ar->config.mmap.enabled) {
+        netdata_munmap(page->data, page->size);
+
+        if (unlikely(unlink(page->filename) == 1))
+            netdata_log_error("Cannot delete file '%s'", page->filename);
+
+        freez((void *)page->filename);
+
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.allocated_bytes, page->size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    }
+    else {
+#ifdef NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+        freez_int(page->data TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+#else
+        freez(page->data);
+#endif
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.allocated_bytes, page->size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    }
+
+    freez(page);
+
+    __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocated_bytes, sizeof(ARAL_PAGE), __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_insert_not_linked_page_with_free_items_to_proper_position___aral_lock_needed(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page) {
+    ARAL_PAGE *first = ar->aral_lock.pages;
+
+    if (page->aral_lock.free_elements <= page->free_elements_to_move_first ||
+        !first ||
+        !first->aral_lock.free_elements ||
+        page->aral_lock.free_elements <= first->aral_lock.free_elements + ARAL_FREE_PAGES_DELTA_TO_REARRANGE_LIST) {
+        // first position
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_PREPEND_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+    }
+    else {
+        ARAL_PAGE *second = first->aral_lock.next;
+
+        if (!second ||
+            !second->aral_lock.free_elements ||
+            page->aral_lock.free_elements <= second->aral_lock.free_elements)
+            // second position
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_INSERT_ITEM_AFTER_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, first, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        else
+            // third position
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_INSERT_ITEM_AFTER_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, second, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+    }
+}
+
+static inline ARAL_PAGE *aral_acquire_a_free_slot(ARAL *ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+    __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->atomic.allocators, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    aral_lock(ar);
+
+    ARAL_PAGE *page = ar->aral_lock.pages;
+
+    while(!page || !page->aral_lock.free_elements) {
+#ifdef NETDATA_ARAL_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+        internal_fatal(find_page_with_free_slots_internal_check___with_aral_lock(ar), "ARAL: '%s' found page with free slot!", ar->config.name);
+#endif
+        aral_unlock(ar);
+
+        if(aral_adders_trylock(ar)) {
+            if(ar->adders.allocating_elements < __atomic_load_n(&ar->atomic.allocators, __ATOMIC_RELAXED)) {
+
+                size_t size = aral_next_allocation_size___adders_lock_needed(ar);
+                ar->adders.allocating_elements += size / ar->config.element_size;
+                aral_adders_unlock(ar);
+
+                page = aral_create_page___no_lock_needed(ar, size TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+
+                aral_lock(ar);
+                aral_insert_not_linked_page_with_free_items_to_proper_position___aral_lock_needed(ar, page);
+
+                aral_adders_lock(ar);
+                ar->adders.allocating_elements -= size / ar->config.element_size;
+                aral_adders_unlock(ar);
+
+                // we have a page that is all empty
+                // and only aral_lock() is held, so
+                // break the loop
+                break;
+            }
+
+            aral_adders_unlock(ar);
+        }
+
+        aral_lock(ar);
+        page = ar->aral_lock.pages;
+    }
+
+    __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->atomic.allocators, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+
+    // we have a page
+    // and aral locked
+
+    {
+        ARAL_PAGE *first = ar->aral_lock.pages;
+        ARAL_PAGE *second = first->aral_lock.next;
+
+        if (!second ||
+            !second->aral_lock.free_elements ||
+            first->aral_lock.free_elements <= second->aral_lock.free_elements + ARAL_FREE_PAGES_DELTA_TO_REARRANGE_LIST)
+            page = first;
+        else {
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, second, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_PREPEND_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, second, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            page = second;
+        }
+    }
+
+    internal_fatal(!page || !page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' selected page does not have a free slot in it",
+                   ar->config.name);
+
+    internal_fatal(page->max_elements != page->aral_lock.used_elements + page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' page element counters do not match, "
+                   "page says it can handle %zu elements, "
+                   "but there are %zu used and %zu free items, "
+                   "total %zu items",
+                   ar->config.name,
+                   (size_t)page->max_elements,
+                   (size_t)page->aral_lock.used_elements, (size_t)page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   (size_t)page->aral_lock.used_elements + (size_t)page->aral_lock.free_elements
+    );
+
+    ar->aral_lock.user_malloc_operations++;
+
+    // acquire a slot for the caller
+    page->aral_lock.used_elements++;
+    if(--page->aral_lock.free_elements == 0) {
+        // we are done with this page
+        // move the full page last
+        // so that pages with free items remain first in the list
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_APPEND_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+    }
+
+    aral_unlock(ar);
+
+    return page;
+}
+
+void *aral_callocz_internal(ARAL *ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+    void *r = aral_mallocz_internal(ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+    memset(r, 0, ar->config.requested_element_size);
+    return r;
+}
+
+void *aral_mallocz_internal(ARAL *ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+#ifdef FSANITIZE_ADDRESS
+    return mallocz(ar->config.requested_element_size);
+#endif
+
+    ARAL_PAGE *page = aral_acquire_a_free_slot(ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+
+    aral_page_free_lock(ar, page);
+
+    internal_fatal(!page->free.list,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' free item to use, cannot be NULL.", ar->config.name);
+
+    internal_fatal(page->free.list->size < ar->config.element_size,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' free item size %zu, cannot be smaller than %zu",
+                   ar->config.name, page->free.list->size, ar->config.element_size);
+
+    ARAL_FREE *found_fr = page->free.list;
+
+    // check if the remaining size (after we use this slot) is not enough for another element
+    if(unlikely(found_fr->size - ar->config.element_size < ar->config.element_size)) {
+        // we can use the entire free space entry
+
+        page->free.list = found_fr->next;
+    }
+    else {
+        // we can split the free space entry
+
+        uint8_t *data = (uint8_t *)found_fr;
+        ARAL_FREE *fr = (ARAL_FREE *)&data[ar->config.element_size];
+        fr->size = found_fr->size - ar->config.element_size;
+
+        // link the free slot first in the page
+        fr->next = found_fr->next;
+        page->free.list = fr;
+
+        aral_free_validate_internal_check(ar, fr);
+    }
+
+    aral_page_free_unlock(ar, page);
+
+    // put the page pointer after the element
+    uint8_t *data = (uint8_t *)found_fr;
+    ARAL_PAGE **page_ptr = (ARAL_PAGE **)&data[ar->config.page_ptr_offset];
+    *page_ptr = page;
+
+    if(unlikely(ar->config.mmap.enabled))
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.used_bytes, ar->config.element_size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    else
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.used_bytes, ar->config.element_size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+
+    return (void *)found_fr;
+}
+
+static inline ARAL_PAGE *aral_ptr_to_page___must_NOT_have_aral_lock(ARAL *ar, void *ptr) {
+    // given a data pointer we returned before,
+    // find the ARAL_PAGE it belongs to
+
+    uint8_t *data = (uint8_t *)ptr;
+    ARAL_PAGE **page_ptr = (ARAL_PAGE **)&data[ar->config.page_ptr_offset];
+    ARAL_PAGE *page = *page_ptr;
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+    // make it NULL so that we will fail on double free
+    // do not enable this on production, because the MMAP file
+    // will need to be saved again!
+    *page_ptr = NULL;
+#endif
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_ARAL_INTERNAL_CHECKS
+    {
+        // find the page ptr belongs
+        ARAL_PAGE *page2 = find_page_with_allocation_internal_check(ar, ptr);
+
+        internal_fatal(page != page2,
+                       "ARAL: '%s' page pointers do not match!",
+                       ar->name);
+
+        internal_fatal(!page2,
+                       "ARAL: '%s' free of pointer %p is not in ARAL address space.",
+                       ar->name, ptr);
+    }
+#endif
+
+    internal_fatal(!page,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' possible corruption or double free of pointer %p",
+                   ar->config.name, ptr);
+
+    return page;
+}
+
+static void aral_defrag_sorted_page_position___aral_lock_needed(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page) {
+    ARAL_PAGE *tmp;
+
+    int action = 0; (void)action;
+    size_t move_later = 0, move_earlier = 0;
+
+    for(tmp = page->aral_lock.next ;
+        tmp && tmp->aral_lock.free_elements && tmp->aral_lock.free_elements < page->aral_lock.free_elements ;
+        tmp = tmp->aral_lock.next)
+        move_later++;
+
+    if(!tmp && page->aral_lock.next) {
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_APPEND_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        action = 1;
+    }
+    else if(tmp != page->aral_lock.next) {
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_INSERT_ITEM_BEFORE_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, tmp, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        action = 2;
+    }
+    else {
+        for(tmp = (page == ar->aral_lock.pages) ? NULL : page->aral_lock.prev ;
+            tmp && (!tmp->aral_lock.free_elements || tmp->aral_lock.free_elements > page->aral_lock.free_elements);
+            tmp = (tmp == ar->aral_lock.pages) ? NULL : tmp->aral_lock.prev)
+            move_earlier++;
+
+        if(!tmp) {
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_PREPEND_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            action = 3;
+        }
+        else if(tmp != page->aral_lock.prev){
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_INSERT_ITEM_AFTER_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, tmp, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+            action = 4;
+        }
+    }
+
+    ar->aral_lock.defragment_operations++;
+    ar->aral_lock.defragment_linked_list_traversals += move_earlier + move_later;
+
+    internal_fatal(page->aral_lock.next && page->aral_lock.next->aral_lock.free_elements && page->aral_lock.next->aral_lock.free_elements < page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' item should be later in the list", ar->config.name);
+
+    internal_fatal(page != ar->aral_lock.pages && (!page->aral_lock.prev->aral_lock.free_elements || page->aral_lock.prev->aral_lock.free_elements > page->aral_lock.free_elements),
+                   "ARAL: '%s' item should be earlier in the list", ar->config.name);
+}
+
+static inline void aral_move_page_with_free_list___aral_lock_needed(ARAL *ar, ARAL_PAGE *page) {
+    if(unlikely(page == ar->aral_lock.pages))
+        // we are the first already
+        return;
+
+    if(likely(!(ar->config.options & ARAL_DEFRAGMENT))) {
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        aral_insert_not_linked_page_with_free_items_to_proper_position___aral_lock_needed(ar, page);
+    }
+    else
+        aral_defrag_sorted_page_position___aral_lock_needed(ar, page);
+}
+
+void aral_freez_internal(ARAL *ar, void *ptr TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+#ifdef FSANITIZE_ADDRESS
+    freez(ptr);
+    return;
+#endif
+
+    if(unlikely(!ptr)) return;
+
+    // get the page pointer
+    ARAL_PAGE *page = aral_ptr_to_page___must_NOT_have_aral_lock(ar, ptr);
+
+    if(unlikely(ar->config.mmap.enabled))
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->mmap.used_bytes, ar->config.element_size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    else
+        __atomic_sub_fetch(&ar->stats->malloc.used_bytes, ar->config.element_size, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+
+    // make this element available
+    ARAL_FREE *fr = (ARAL_FREE *)ptr;
+    fr->size = ar->config.element_size;
+
+    aral_page_free_lock(ar, page);
+    fr->next = page->free.list;
+    page->free.list = fr;
+    aral_page_free_unlock(ar, page);
+
+    aral_lock(ar);
+
+    internal_fatal(!page->aral_lock.used_elements,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' pointer %p is inside a page without any active allocations.",
+                   ar->config.name, ptr);
+
+    internal_fatal(page->max_elements != page->aral_lock.used_elements + page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' page element counters do not match, "
+                   "page says it can handle %zu elements, "
+                   "but there are %zu used and %zu free items, "
+                   "total %zu items",
+                   ar->config.name,
+                   (size_t)page->max_elements,
+                   (size_t)page->aral_lock.used_elements, (size_t)page->aral_lock.free_elements,
+                   (size_t)page->aral_lock.used_elements + (size_t)page->aral_lock.free_elements
+    );
+
+    page->aral_lock.used_elements--;
+    page->aral_lock.free_elements++;
+
+    ar->aral_lock.user_free_operations++;
+
+    // if the page is empty, release it
+    if(unlikely(!page->aral_lock.used_elements)) {
+        bool is_this_page_the_last_one = ar->aral_lock.pages == page && !page->aral_lock.next;
+
+        if(!is_this_page_the_last_one)
+            DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+
+        aral_unlock(ar);
+
+        if(!is_this_page_the_last_one)
+            aral_del_page___no_lock_needed(ar, page TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+    }
+    else {
+        aral_move_page_with_free_list___aral_lock_needed(ar, page);
+        aral_unlock(ar);
+    }
+}
+
+void aral_destroy_internal(ARAL *ar TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_DEFINITION_PARAMS) {
+    aral_lock(ar);
+
+    ARAL_PAGE *page;
+    while((page = ar->aral_lock.pages)) {
+        DOUBLE_LINKED_LIST_REMOVE_ITEM_UNSAFE(ar->aral_lock.pages, page, aral_lock.prev, aral_lock.next);
+        aral_del_page___no_lock_needed(ar, page TRACE_ALLOCATIONS_FUNCTION_CALL_PARAMS);
+    }
+
+    aral_unlock(ar);
+
+    if(ar->config.options & ARAL_ALLOCATED_STATS)
+        freez(ar->stats);
+
+    freez(ar);
+}
+
+size_t aral_element_size(ARAL *ar) {
+    return ar->config.requested_element_size;
+}
+
+ARAL *aral_create(const char *name, size_t element_size, size_t initial_page_elements, size_t max_page_size,
+                  struct aral_statistics *stats, const char *filename, char **cache_dir, bool mmap, bool lockless) {
+    ARAL *ar = callocz(1, sizeof(ARAL));
+    ar->config.options = (lockless) ? ARAL_LOCKLESS : 0;
+    ar->config.requested_element_size = element_size;
+    ar->config.initial_page_elements = initial_page_elements;
+    ar->config.requested_max_page_size = max_page_size;
+    ar->config.mmap.filename = filename;
+    ar->config.mmap.cache_dir = cache_dir;
+    ar->config.mmap.enabled = mmap;
+    strncpyz(ar->config.name, name, ARAL_MAX_NAME);
+    spinlock_init(&ar->aral_lock.spinlock);
+    spinlock_init(&ar->adders.spinlock);
+
+    if(stats) {
+        ar->stats = stats;
+        ar->config.options &= ~ARAL_ALLOCATED_STATS;
+    }
+    else {
+        ar->stats = callocz(1, sizeof(struct aral_statistics));
+        ar->config.options |= ARAL_ALLOCATED_STATS;
+    }
+
+    long int page_size = sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
+    if (unlikely(page_size == -1))
+        ar->config.natural_page_size = 4096;
+    else
+        ar->config.natural_page_size = page_size;
+
+    // we need to add a page pointer after the element
+    // so, first align the element size to the pointer size
+    ar->config.element_size = natural_alignment(ar->config.requested_element_size, sizeof(uintptr_t));
+
+    // then add the size of a pointer to it
+    ar->config.element_size += sizeof(uintptr_t);
+
+    // make sure it is at least what we need for an ARAL_FREE slot
+    if (ar->config.element_size < sizeof(ARAL_FREE))
+        ar->config.element_size = sizeof(ARAL_FREE);
+
+    // and finally align it to the natural alignment
+    ar->config.element_size = natural_alignment(ar->config.element_size, ARAL_NATURAL_ALIGNMENT);
+
+    ar->config.max_page_elements = ar->config.requested_max_page_size / ar->config.element_size;
+
+    // we write the page pointer just after each element
+    ar->config.page_ptr_offset = ar->config.element_size - sizeof(uintptr_t);
+
+    if(ar->config.requested_element_size + sizeof(uintptr_t) > ar->config.element_size)
+        fatal("ARAL: '%s' failed to calculate properly page_ptr_offset: "
+              "element size %zu, sizeof(uintptr_t) %zu, natural alignment %zu, "
+              "final element size %zu, page_ptr_offset %zu",
+              ar->config.name, ar->config.requested_element_size, sizeof(uintptr_t), ARAL_NATURAL_ALIGNMENT,
+              ar->config.element_size, ar->config.page_ptr_offset);
+
+    //netdata_log_info("ARAL: element size %zu, sizeof(uintptr_t) %zu, natural alignment %zu, final element size %zu, page_ptr_offset %zu",
+    //      ar->element_size, sizeof(uintptr_t), ARAL_NATURAL_ALIGNMENT, ar->internal.element_size, ar->internal.page_ptr_offset);
+
+
+    if (ar->config.initial_page_elements < 2)
+        ar->config.initial_page_elements = 2;
+
+    if(ar->config.mmap.enabled && (!ar->config.mmap.cache_dir || !*ar->config.mmap.cache_dir)) {
+        netdata_log_error("ARAL: '%s' mmap cache directory is not configured properly, disabling mmap.", ar->config.name);
+        ar->config.mmap.enabled = false;
+        internal_fatal(true, "ARAL: '%s' mmap cache directory is not configured properly", ar->config.name);
+    }
+
+    uint64_t max_alloc_size;
+    if(!ar->config.max_page_elements)
+        max_alloc_size = ar->config.mmap.enabled ? ARAL_MAX_PAGE_SIZE_MMAP : ARAL_MAX_PAGE_SIZE_MALLOC;
+    else
+        max_alloc_size = ar->config.max_page_elements * ar->config.element_size;
+
+    ar->config.max_allocation_size = aral_align_alloc_size(ar, max_alloc_size);
+    ar->adders.allocation_size = aral_align_alloc_size(ar, (uint64_t)ar->config.element_size * ar->config.initial_page_elements);
+    ar->aral_lock.pages = NULL;
+    ar->aral_lock.file_number = 0;
+
+    if(ar->config.mmap.enabled) {
+        char directory_name[FILENAME_MAX + 1];
+        snprintfz(directory_name, FILENAME_MAX, "%s/array_alloc.mmap", *ar->config.mmap.cache_dir);
+        int r = mkdir(directory_name, 0775);
+        if (r != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+            fatal("Cannot create directory '%s'", directory_name);
+
+        char file[FILENAME_MAX + 1];
+        snprintfz(file, FILENAME_MAX, "%s.", ar->config.mmap.filename);
+        aral_delete_leftover_files(ar->config.name, directory_name, file);
+    }
+
+    internal_error(true,
+                   "ARAL: '%s' "
+                   "element size %zu (requested %zu bytes), "
+                   "min elements per page %zu (requested %zu), "
+                   "max elements per page %zu, "
+                   "max page size %zu bytes (requested %zu) "
+                   , ar->config.name
+                   , ar->config.element_size, ar->config.requested_element_size
+                   , ar->adders.allocation_size / ar->config.element_size, ar->config.initial_page_elements
+                   , ar->config.max_allocation_size / ar->config.element_size
+                   , ar->config.max_allocation_size,  ar->config.requested_max_page_size
+    );
+
+    __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocations, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    __atomic_add_fetch(&ar->stats->structures.allocated_bytes, sizeof(ARAL), __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    return ar;
+}
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// global aral caching
+
+#define ARAL_BY_SIZE_MAX_SIZE 1024
+
+struct aral_by_size {
+    ARAL *ar;
+    int32_t refcount;
+};
+
+struct {
+    struct aral_statistics shared_statistics;
+    SPINLOCK spinlock;
+    struct aral_by_size array[ARAL_BY_SIZE_MAX_SIZE + 1];
+} aral_by_size_globals = {};
+
+struct aral_statistics *aral_by_size_statistics(void) {
+    return &aral_by_size_globals.shared_statistics;
+}
+
+size_t aral_by_size_structures(void) {
+    return aral_structures_from_stats(&aral_by_size_globals.shared_statistics);
+}
+
+size_t aral_by_size_overhead(void) {
+    return aral_overhead_from_stats(&aral_by_size_globals.shared_statistics);
+}
+
+ARAL *aral_by_size_acquire(size_t size) {
+    spinlock_lock(&aral_by_size_globals.spinlock);
+
+    ARAL *ar = NULL;
+
+    if(size <= ARAL_BY_SIZE_MAX_SIZE && aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar) {
+        ar = aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar;
+        aral_by_size_globals.array[size].refcount++;
+
+        internal_fatal(aral_element_size(ar) != size, "DICTIONARY: aral has size %zu but we want %zu",
+                       aral_element_size(ar), size);
+    }
+
+    if(!ar) {
+        char buf[30 + 1];
+        snprintf(buf, 30, "size-%zu", size);
+        ar = aral_create(buf,
+                         size,
+                         0,
+                         65536 * ((size / 150) + 1),
+                         &aral_by_size_globals.shared_statistics,
+                         NULL, NULL, false, false);
+
+        if(size <= ARAL_BY_SIZE_MAX_SIZE) {
+            aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar = ar;
+            aral_by_size_globals.array[size].refcount = 1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    spinlock_unlock(&aral_by_size_globals.spinlock);
+
+    return ar;
+}
+
+void aral_by_size_release(ARAL *ar) {
+    size_t size = aral_element_size(ar);
+
+    if(size <= ARAL_BY_SIZE_MAX_SIZE) {
+        spinlock_lock(&aral_by_size_globals.spinlock);
+
+        internal_fatal(aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar != ar,
+                       "ARAL BY SIZE: aral pointers do not match");
+
+        if(aral_by_size_globals.array[size].refcount <= 0)
+            fatal("ARAL BY SIZE: double release detected");
+
+        aral_by_size_globals.array[size].refcount--;
+//        if(!aral_by_size_globals.array[size].refcount) {
+//            aral_destroy(aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar);
+//            aral_by_size_globals.array[size].ar = NULL;
+//        }
+
+        spinlock_unlock(&aral_by_size_globals.spinlock);
+    }
+    else
+        aral_destroy(ar);
+}
+
+// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// unittest
+
+struct aral_unittest_config {
+    bool single_threaded;
+    bool stop;
+    ARAL *ar;
+    size_t elements;
+    size_t threads;
+    int errors;
+};
+
+static void *aral_test_thread(void *ptr) {
+    struct aral_unittest_config *auc = ptr;
+    ARAL *ar = auc->ar;
+    size_t elements = auc->elements;
+
+    void **pointers = callocz(elements, sizeof(void *));
+
+    do {
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i++) {
+            pointers[i] = aral_mallocz(ar);
+        }
+
+        for (size_t div = 5; div >= 2; div--) {
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < elements / div; i++) {
+                aral_freez(ar, pointers[i]);
+                pointers[i] = NULL;
+            }
+
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < elements / div; i++) {
+                pointers[i] = aral_mallocz(ar);
+            }
+        }
+
+        for (size_t step = 50; step >= 10; step -= 10) {
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i += step) {
+                aral_freez(ar, pointers[i]);
+                pointers[i] = NULL;
+            }
+
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i += step) {
+                pointers[i] = aral_mallocz(ar);
+            }
+        }
+
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i++) {
+            aral_freez(ar, pointers[i]);
+            pointers[i] = NULL;
+        }
+
+        if (auc->single_threaded && ar->aral_lock.pages && ar->aral_lock.pages->aral_lock.used_elements) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "\n\nARAL leftovers detected (1)\n\n");
+            __atomic_add_fetch(&auc->errors, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        }
+
+        if(!auc->single_threaded && __atomic_load_n(&auc->stop, __ATOMIC_RELAXED))
+            break;
+
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i++) {
+            pointers[i] = aral_mallocz(ar);
+        }
+
+        size_t increment = elements / ar->config.max_page_elements;
+        for (size_t all = increment; all <= elements / 2; all += increment) {
+
+            size_t to_free = (all % ar->config.max_page_elements) + 1;
+            size_t step = elements / to_free;
+            if(!step) step = 1;
+
+            // fprintf(stderr, "all %zu, to free %zu, step %zu\n", all, to_free, step);
+
+            size_t free_list[to_free];
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < to_free; i++) {
+                size_t pos = step * i;
+                aral_freez(ar, pointers[pos]);
+                pointers[pos] = NULL;
+                free_list[i] = pos;
+            }
+
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < to_free; i++) {
+                size_t pos = free_list[i];
+                pointers[pos] = aral_mallocz(ar);
+            }
+        }
+
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < elements; i++) {
+            aral_freez(ar, pointers[i]);
+            pointers[i] = NULL;
+        }
+
+        if (auc->single_threaded && ar->aral_lock.pages && ar->aral_lock.pages->aral_lock.used_elements) {
+            fprintf(stderr, "\n\nARAL leftovers detected (2)\n\n");
+            __atomic_add_fetch(&auc->errors, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+        }
+
+    } while(!auc->single_threaded && !__atomic_load_n(&auc->stop, __ATOMIC_RELAXED));
+
+    freez(pointers);
+
+    return ptr;
+}
+
+int aral_stress_test(size_t threads, size_t elements, size_t seconds) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "Running stress test of %zu threads, with %zu elements each, for %zu seconds...\n",
+            threads, elements, seconds);
+
+    struct aral_unittest_config auc = {
+            .single_threaded = false,
+            .threads = threads,
+            .ar = aral_create("aral-stress-test", 20, 0, 8192, NULL, "aral-stress-test", NULL, false, false),
+            .elements = elements,
+            .errors = 0,
+    };
+
+    usec_t started_ut = now_monotonic_usec();
+    ND_THREAD *thread_ptrs[threads];
+
+    for(size_t i = 0; i < threads ; i++) {
+        char tag[ND_THREAD_TAG_MAX + 1];
+        snprintfz(tag, ND_THREAD_TAG_MAX, "TH[%zu]", i);
+        thread_ptrs[i] = nd_thread_create(
+            tag,
+            NETDATA_THREAD_OPTION_JOINABLE | NETDATA_THREAD_OPTION_DONT_LOG,
+            aral_test_thread,
+            &auc);
+    }
+
+    size_t malloc_done = 0;
+    size_t free_done = 0;
+    size_t countdown = seconds;
+    while(countdown-- > 0) {
+        sleep_usec(1 * USEC_PER_SEC);
+        aral_lock(auc.ar);
+        size_t m = auc.ar->aral_lock.user_malloc_operations;
+        size_t f = auc.ar->aral_lock.user_free_operations;
+        aral_unlock(auc.ar);
+        fprintf(stderr, "ARAL executes %0.2f M malloc and %0.2f M free operations/s\n",
+                (double)(m - malloc_done) / 1000000.0, (double)(f - free_done) / 1000000.0);
+        malloc_done = m;
+        free_done = f;
+    }
+
+    __atomic_store_n(&auc.stop, true, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+
+//    fprintf(stderr, "Cancelling the threads...\n");
+//    for(size_t i = 0; i < threads ; i++) {
+//        nd_thread_signal_cancel(thread_ptrs[i]);
+//    }
+
+    fprintf(stderr, "Waiting the threads to finish...\n");
+    for(size_t i = 0; i < threads ; i++) {
+        nd_thread_join(thread_ptrs[i]);
+    }
+
+    usec_t ended_ut = now_monotonic_usec();
+
+    if (auc.ar->aral_lock.pages && auc.ar->aral_lock.pages->aral_lock.used_elements) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "\n\nARAL leftovers detected (3)\n\n");
+        __atomic_add_fetch(&auc.errors, 1, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);
+    }
+
+    netdata_log_info("ARAL: did %zu malloc, %zu free, "
+         "using %zu threads, in %"PRIu64" usecs",
+         auc.ar->aral_lock.user_malloc_operations,
+         auc.ar->aral_lock.user_free_operations,
+         threads,
+         ended_ut - started_ut);
+
+    aral_destroy(auc.ar);
+
+    return auc.errors;
+}
+
+int aral_unittest(size_t elements) {
+    char *cache_dir = "/tmp/";
+
+    struct aral_unittest_config auc = {
+            .single_threaded = true,
+            .threads = 1,
+            .ar = aral_create("aral-test", 20, 0, 8192, NULL, "aral-test", &cache_dir, false, false),
+            .elements = elements,
+            .errors = 0,
+    };
+
+    aral_test_thread(&auc);
+
+    aral_destroy(auc.ar);
+
+    int errors = aral_stress_test(2, elements, 5);
+
+    return auc.errors + errors;
+}
diff --git a/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.h b/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2e749bc4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libnetdata/aral/aral.h
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+
+#ifndef ARAL_H
+#define ARAL_H 1
+
+#include "../libnetdata.h"
+
+#define ARAL_MAX_NAME 23
+
+typedef struct aral ARAL;
+
+struct aral_statistics {
+    struct {
+        size_t allocations;
+        size_t allocated_bytes;
+    } structures;
+
+    struct {
+        size_t allocations;
+        size_t allocated_bytes;
+        size_t used_bytes;
+    } malloc;
+
+    struct {
+        size_t allocations;
+        size_t allocated_bytes;
+        size_t used_bytes;
+    } mmap;
+};
+
+ARAL *aral_create(const char *name, size_t element_size, size_t initial_page_elements, size_t max_page_size,
+                  struct aral_statistics *stats, const char *filename, char **cache_dir, bool mmap, bool lockless);
+size_t aral_element_size(ARAL *ar);
+size_t aral_overhead(ARAL *ar);
+size_t aral_structures(ARAL *ar);
+struct aral_statistics *aral_statistics(ARAL *ar);
+size_t aral_structures_from_stats(struct aral_statistics *stats);
+size_t aral_overhead_from_stats(struct aral_statistics *stats);
+
+ARAL *aral_by_size_acquire(size_t size);
+void aral_by_size_release(ARAL *ar);
+size_t aral_by_size_structures(void);
+size_t aral_by_size_overhead(void);
+struct aral_statistics *aral_by_size_statistics(void);
+
+int aral_unittest(size_t elements);
+
+#ifdef NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+
+#define aral_callocz(ar) aral_callocz_internal(ar, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__)
+#define aral_mallocz(ar) aral_mallocz_internal(ar, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__)
+#define aral_freez(ar, ptr) aral_freez_internal(ar, ptr, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__)
+#define aral_destroy(ar) aral_destroy_internal(ar, __FILE__, __FUNCTION__, __LINE__)
+
+void *aral_callocz_internal(ARAL *ar, const char *file, const char *function, size_t line);
+void *aral_mallocz_internal(ARAL *ar, const char *file, const char *function, size_t line);
+void aral_freez_internal(ARAL *ar, void *ptr, const char *file, const char *function, size_t line);
+void aral_destroy_internal(ARAL *ar, const char *file, const char *function, size_t line);
+
+#else // NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+
+#define aral_mallocz(ar) aral_mallocz_internal(ar)
+#define aral_callocz(ar) aral_callocz_internal(ar)
+#define aral_freez(ar, ptr) aral_freez_internal(ar, ptr)
+#define aral_destroy(ar) aral_destroy_internal(ar)
+
+void *aral_callocz_internal(ARAL *ar);
+void *aral_mallocz_internal(ARAL *ar);
+void aral_freez_internal(ARAL *ar, void *ptr);
+void aral_destroy_internal(ARAL *ar);
+
+#endif // NETDATA_TRACE_ALLOCATIONS
+
+#endif // ARAL_H