The Evolution of jemalloc

jemalloc, a memory allocator, began development in 2004 and remained active for 20 years but is now no longer under active development.

The allocator went through several phases, starting with its integration into FreeBSD, handling issues like fragmentation, and later being adopted and adapted by Firefox.

jemalloc saw extensive use and modification within Facebook (and later Meta) infrastructure, leading to significant performance enhancements and feature developments.

The project faced challenges, such as compatibility issues with tools like Valgrind, and changes in corporate priorities at Meta reduced investment in jemalloc's long-term development.

While jemalloc is no longer being actively developed upstream, its open-source nature ensures that it remains publicly available and may continue through forks or other adaptations.