No need to add code: 
add_project_link_arguments('-lasan', language: 'c')
dpdk_extra_ldflags += '-lasan'

The app compiled by clang will fail to run

+endif
+
 if get_option('default_library') == 'both'
     error( '''
  Unsupported value "both" for "default_library" option.


Bruce, do you see an issue with this approach?


Then a second patch adds the rte_malloc instrumentation, with a check at
configuration time.

     endif
     add_project_link_arguments('-lasan', language: 'c')
     dpdk_extra_ldflags += '-lasan'
+    if arch_subdir == 'x86'
+        asan_check_code = '''
+#ifdef __SANITIZE_ADDRESS__
+#define RTE_MALLOC_ASAN
+#elif defined(__has_feature)
+# if __has_feature(address_sanitizer)
+#define RTE_MALLOC_ASAN
+# endif
+#endif
+
+#ifndef RTE_MALLOC_ASAN
+#error ASan not available.
+#endif
+'''
+        if cc.compiles(asan_check_code)
+            dpdk_conf.set10('RTE_MALLOC_ASAN', true)

dpdk_conf.set10('RTE_MALLOC_ASAN', true) is not executed

+        endif
+    endif
 endif

Set the macro directly:
dpdk_conf.set10('RTE_MALLOC_ASAN', true)

All code:
if get_option('b_sanitize') == 'address'
    asan_dep = cc.find_library('asan', required: true)
    if (not cc.links('int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { return 0; }',
                dependencies: asan_dep))
        error('broken dependency, "libasan"')
    endif

    if arch_subdir == 'x86'
        dpdk_conf.set10('RTE_MALLOC_ASAN', true)
    endif
endif

 if get_option('default_library') == 'both'


Few more comments:

quoted

DPDK ASan functionality is currently only supported Linux x86_64.
Support other platforms, need to define ASAN_SHADOW_OFFSET value
according to google ASan document.

Here is an example of heap-buffer-overflow bug:
        ......
        char *p = rte_zmalloc(NULL, 7, 0);
        p[7] = 'a';
        ......

Here is an example of use-after-free bug:
        ......
        char *p = rte_zmalloc(NULL, 7, 0);
        rte_free(p);
        *p = 'a';
        ......

If you want to use this feature,
you need to add below compilation options when compiling code:
-Dbuildtype=debug -Db_lundef=false -Db_sanitize=address
"-Dbuildtype=debug": This is a non-essential option. When this option
is added, if a memory error occurs, ASan can clearly show where the
code is wrong.
"-Db_lundef=false": When use clang to compile DPDK, this option must
be added.

Signed-off-by: Xueqin Lin <redacted>
Signed-off-by: Zhihong Peng <redacted>
---
 devtools/words-case.txt         |   1 +
 doc/guides/prog_guide/ASan.rst  | 108 +++++++++++++++++
 doc/guides/prog_guide/index.rst |   1 +
 examples/helloworld/main.c      |   5 +
 lib/eal/common/malloc_elem.c    |  26 +++-
 lib/eal/common/malloc_elem.h    | 204

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-

quoted

 lib/eal/common/malloc_heap.c    |  12 ++
 lib/eal/common/rte_malloc.c     |   9 +-
 8 files changed, 361 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)  create mode
100644 doc/guides/prog_guide/ASan.rst

diff --git a/devtools/words-case.txt b/devtools/words-case.txt index

0bbad48626..3655596d47 100644

--- a/devtools/words-case.txt
+++ b/devtools/words-case.txt

@@ -86,3 +86,4 @@ VXLAN
 Windows
 XDP
 XOR
+ASan

Alphabetical order please.

quoted

diff --git a/doc/guides/prog_guide/ASan.rst

b/doc/guides/prog_guide/ASan.rst

Filenames are lowercase in the doc.

quoted

new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7145a3b1a1

--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/guides/prog_guide/ASan.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+.. Copyright (c) <2021>, Intel Corporation
+   All rights reserved.
+
+Memory error detect standard tool - AddressSanitizer(ASan)

+=========================================================
=

quoted

+
+AddressSanitizer (ASan) is a google memory error detect standard
+tool. It could help to detect use-after-free and
+{heap,stack,global}-buffer overflow bugs in C/C++ programs, print
+detailed error information when error happens, large improve debug
+efficiency.
+
+By referring to its implementation algorithm
+(https://github.com/google/sanitizers/wiki/AddressSanitizerAlgorithm)
+, enabled heap-buffer-overflow and use-after-free functions on DPDK.
+DPDK ASan function currently only supports on Linux x86_64.
+
+AddressSanitizer is a part of LLVM(3.1+)and GCC(4.8+).

missing spaces around ().

quoted

+
+Example heap-buffer-overflow error
+----------------------------------
+
+Following error was reported when ASan was enabled::
+
+    Applied 9 bytes of memory, but accessed the 10th byte of memory,
+    so heap-buffer-overflow appeared.
+
+Below code results in this error::
+
+    char *p = rte_zmalloc(NULL, 9, 0);
+    if (!p) {
+        printf("rte_zmalloc error.");
+        return -1;
+    }
+    p[9] = 'a';
+
+The error log::
+
+    ==49433==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow on address

0x7f773fafa249 at pc 0x5556b13bdae4 bp 0x7ffeb4965e40 sp 0x7ffeb4965e30
WRITE of size 1 at 0x7f773fafa249 thread T0

quoted

+    #0 0x5556b13bdae3 in asan_heap_buffer_overflow
+ ../app/test/test_asan_heap_buffer_overflow.c:25

Please update this example since the unit test has been removed.

quoted

+    #1 0x5556b043e9d4 in

cmd_autotest_parsed ../app/test/commands.c:71

quoted

+    #2 0x5556b1cdd4b0 in

cmdline_parse ../lib/cmdline/cmdline_parse.c:290

quoted

+    #3 0x5556b1cd8987 in cmdline_valid_buffer ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:26
+    #4 0x5556b1ce477a in rdline_char_in ../lib/cmdline/cmdline_rdline.c:421
+    #5 0x5556b1cd923e in cmdline_in ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:149
+    #6 0x5556b1cd9769 in cmdline_interact ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:223
+    #7 0x5556b045f53b in main ../app/test/test.c:234
+    #8 0x7f7f1eba90b2 in __libc_start_main (/lib/x86_64-linux-

gnu/libc.so.6+0x270b2)

quoted

+    #9 0x5556b043e70d in _start
+ (/home/pzh/yyy/x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/test/dpdk-

test+0x7ce70

quoted

+ d)
+
+    Address 0x7f773fafa249 is a wild pointer.
+    SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: heap-buffer-overflow
+ ../app/test/test_asan_heap_buffer_overflow.c:25 in
+ asan_heap_buffer_overflow
+
+Example use-after-free error
+----------------------------
+
+Following error was reported when ASan was enabled::
+
+    Applied for 9 bytes of memory, and accessed the first byte after
+    released, so heap-use-after-free appeared.
+
+Below code results in this error::
+
+    char *p = rte_zmalloc(NULL, 9, 0);
+    if (!p) {
+        printf("rte_zmalloc error.");
+        return -1;
+    }
+    rte_free(p);
+    *p = 'a';
+
+The error log::
+
+    ==49478==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free on address

0x7fe2ffafa240 at pc 0x56409b084bc8 bp 0x7ffef62c57d0 sp 0x7ffef62c57c0
WRITE of size 1 at 0x7fe2ffafa240 thread T0

quoted

+    #0 0x56409b084bc7 in asan_use_after_free
+ ../app/test/test_asan_use_after_free.c:26

Idem.

quoted

+    #1 0x56409a1059d4 in

cmd_autotest_parsed ../app/test/commands.c:71

quoted

+    #2 0x56409b9a44b0 in

cmdline_parse ../lib/cmdline/cmdline_parse.c:290

quoted

+    #3 0x56409b99f987 in cmdline_valid_buffer ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:26
+    #4 0x56409b9ab77a in

rdline_char_in ../lib/cmdline/cmdline_rdline.c:421

quoted

+    #5 0x56409b9a023e in cmdline_in ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:149
+    #6 0x56409b9a0769 in cmdline_interact ../lib/cmdline/cmdline.c:223
+    #7 0x56409a12653b in main ../app/test/test.c:234
+    #8 0x7feafafc20b2 in __libc_start_main (/lib/x86_64-linux-

gnu/libc.so.6+0x270b2)

quoted

+    #9 0x56409a10570d in _start
+ (/home/pzh/yyy/x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc/app/test/dpdk-

test+0x7ce70

quoted

+ d)
+
+    Address 0x7fe2ffafa240 is a wild pointer.
+    SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free
+ ../app/test/test_asan_use_after_free.c:26 in asan_use_after_free

--
David Marchand