Method and apparatus for sharing code containing references to non-shared objects

Abstract

A system is described that facilitates sharing an object containing embedded references to non-shared objects, which may be located at different virtual memory addresses in different processes. During operation, the system looks up the object in a shared memory area, wherein the shared memory area is mapped to the same virtual address by all sharing processes. If the object does not exist in the shared memory area, the system creates the object within the shared memory area, and sets embedded references in the object to point to entries in an indirection table located at a second virtual address, wherein each sharing process maintains its own private version of the indirection table at the same second virtual address. Next, the system performs a private initialization operation on the object for a specific process by setting references in the private version of the indirection table for the specific process to point to non-shared objects located in a private memory area for the specific process. In this way, the system allows each sharing process to maintain its own private versions of the non-shared objects.