suse man page for alloc_vm_area

ALLOC_VM_AREA(9)					    Memory Management in Linux						  ALLOC_VM_AREA(9)

NAME
       alloc_vm_area - allocate a range of kernel address space

SYNOPSIS
       struct vm_struct * alloc_vm_area(size_t size);

ARGUMENTS
       size
	   size of the area

RETURNS
       NULL on failure, vm_struct on success

       This function reserves a range of kernel address space, and allocates pagetables to map that range. No actual mappings are created. If the
       kernel address space is not shared between processes, it syncs the pagetable across all processes.

COPYRIGHT
Kernel Hackers Manual 2.6.					     July 2010							  ALLOC_VM_AREA(9)