IBM User Guide for Java V7 on Windows > IBM SDK for Java > The collector and the allocator > Global garbage collection > Mark phase

Mark stack overflow

Because the set of work packets has a finite size, it can overflow and the Garbage Collector (GC) then performs a series of actions.

If an overflow occurs, the GC empties one of the work packets by popping its references one at a time, and chaining the referenced objects off their owning class by using the class pointer field in the object header. All classes with overflow objects are also chained together. Tracing can then continue as before. If a further mark stack overflow occurs, more packets are emptied in the same way.

When a marking thread asks for a new non-empty packet and all work packets are empty, the GC checks the list of overflow classes. If the list is not empty, the GC traverses this list and repopulates a work packet with the references to the objects on the overflow lists. These packets are then processed as described previously. Tracing is complete when all the work packets are empty and the overflow list is empty.

Parent: Mark phase

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