KCALLOC(9) Memory Management in Linux KCALLOC(9)NAME
kcalloc - allocate memory for an array. The memory is set to zero.
SYNOPSIS
void * kcalloc(size_t n, size_t size, gfp_t flags);
ARGUMENTS
n
number of elements.
size
element size.
flags
the type of memory to allocate.
DESCRIPTION
The flags argument may be one of:
GFP_USER - Allocate memory on behalf of user. May sleep.
GFP_KERNEL - Allocate normal kernel ram. May sleep.
GFP_ATOMIC - Allocation will not sleep. May use emergency pools. For example, use this inside interrupt handlers.
GFP_HIGHUSER - Allocate pages from high memory.
GFP_NOIO - Do not do any I/O at all while trying to get memory.
GFP_NOFS - Do not make any fs calls while trying to get memory.
GFP_NOWAIT - Allocation will not sleep.
GFP_THISNODE - Allocate node-local memory only.
GFP_DMA - Allocation suitable for DMA. Should only be used for kmalloc caches. Otherwise, use a slab created with SLAB_DMA.
Also it is possible to set different flags by OR'ing in one or more of the following additional flags:
__GFP_COLD - Request cache-cold pages instead of trying to return cache-warm pages.
__GFP_HIGH - This allocation has high priority and may use emergency pools.
__GFP_NOFAIL - Indicate that this allocation is in no way allowed to fail (think twice before using).
__GFP_NORETRY - If memory is not immediately available, then give up at once.
__GFP_NOWARN - If allocation fails, don't issue any warnings.
__GFP_REPEAT - If allocation fails initially, try once more before failing.
There are other flags available as well, but these are not intended for general use, and so are not documented here. For a full list of
potential flags, always refer to linux/gfp.h.
COPYRIGHT Kernel Hackers Manual 2.6. July 2010 KCALLOC(9)
Check Out this Related Man Page
CONTIGMALLOC(9) BSD Kernel Developer's Manual CONTIGMALLOC(9)NAME
contigmalloc, contigfree -- manage contiguous kernel physical memory
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/malloc.h>
void *
contigmalloc(unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type, int flags, vm_paddr_t low, vm_paddr_t high, unsigned long alignment,
unsigned long boundary);
void
contigfree(void *addr, unsigned long size, struct malloc_type *type);
DESCRIPTION
The contigmalloc() function allocates size bytes of contiguous physical memory that is aligned to alignment bytes, and which does not cross a
boundary of boundary bytes. If successful, the allocation will reside between physical addresses low and high. The returned pointer points
to a wired kernel virtual address range of size bytes allocated from the kernel virtual address (KVA) map.
The flags parameter modifies contigmalloc()'s behaviour as follows:
M_ZERO Causes the allocated physical memory to be zero filled.
M_NOWAIT
Causes contigmalloc() to return NULL if the request cannot be immediately fulfilled due to resource shortage.
Other flags (if present) are ignored.
The contigfree() function deallocates memory allocated by a previous call to contigmalloc().
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
The contigmalloc() function does not sleep waiting for memory resources to be freed up, but instead actively reclaims pages before giving up.
However, unless M_NOWAIT is specified, it may select a page for reclamation that must first be written to backing storage, causing it to
sleep.
RETURN VALUES
The contigmalloc() function returns a kernel virtual address if allocation succeeds, or NULL otherwise.
EXAMPLES
void *p;
p = contigmalloc(8192, M_DEVBUF, M_ZERO, 0, (1L << 22),
32 * 1024, 1024 * 1024);
Ask for 8192 bytes of zero-filled memory residing between physical address 0 and 4194303 inclusive, aligned to a 32K boundary and not cross-
ing a 1M address boundary.
DIAGNOSTICS
The contigmalloc() function will panic if size is zero, or if alignment or boundary is not a power of two.
SEE ALSO malloc(9), memguard(9)BSD July 19, 2007 BSD