/HEAP
Sets the size of the heap in bytes. This option only applies to executable files.
Syntax
/HEAP:reserve[,commit]
Remarks
The reserve argument specifies the total initial heap allocation in virtual memory. The /HEAP linker or EDITBIN option rounds up the specified value to the nearest multiple of 4 bytes. By default, the heap size is 1 MB.
The optional commit argument is subject to interpretation by the operating system. On a Windows operating system, it specifies the initial amount of physical memory to allocate. It also specifies how much more memory to allocate when the heap is expanded. Committed virtual memory causes space to be reserved in the paging file. A higher commit value allows the system to allocate memory less often when the app needs more heap space but increases the memory requirements and possibly the app startup duration. The commit value must be less than or equal to the reserve value. The default value is 4 KB.
Specify the reserve and commit values in decimal, C-language hexadecimal, or octal notation. For example, a value of 1 MB can be specified as 1048576 in decimal, or as 0x100000 in hexadecimal, or as 04000000 in octal. The default values are equivalent to the option /HEAP:1048576,4096.
Example
This example link command creates an executable main.exe that has heap reserve of 2 MB. The initial heap and later heap expansions come in blocks of 64 KB:
link /heap:0x200000,0x10000 main.obj
To set this linker option in Visual Studio
Open the project Property Pages dialog box. For more information, see Set C++ compiler and build properties in Visual Studio.
Select the Configuration Properties > Linker > System property page.
Set the Heap Reserve Size and Heap Commit Size properties, then choose OK or Apply to save your changes.
See also
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