O.S. memory usage

[Derek Simkowiak <dereks kd-dev com>]

	This is offtopic; my apologies.  But it's a quickie, and I don't
know who else to ask (suggestions welcome!).

	If I write a program that does

pointer = g_malloc(LOTS_OF_RAM);

	...and then, later on, does

g_free(pointer);

	Does that memory immediately go back to the O.S.?  Will it be used
for drive caching, other apps, etc. as my program continues to run?  Or
does Linux (and/or other O.S.s) hold on to it, say, in case my program
does another g_malloc or some such thing?

	If anyone can suggest a good FAQ, book, or any other reference,
I'd be very grateful.


Thank You,
Derek Simkowiak
dereks@kd-dev.com