Re: [PATCH] add __GFP_ZERO to GFP_LEVEL_MASK

From: Christoph Lameter
Date: Tue Jul 24 2007 - 15:08:07 EST


GFP_LEVEL_MASK is used to allow the pass through of page allocator
flags. Currently these are

#define GFP_LEVEL_MASK (__GFP_WAIT|__GFP_HIGH|__GFP_IO|__GFP_FS| \
__GFP_COLD|__GFP_NOWARN|__GFP_REPEAT| \
__GFP_NOFAIL|__GFP_NORETRY|__GFP_COMP| \
__GFP_NOMEMALLOC|__GFP_HARDWALL|__GFP_THISNODE|
__GFP_MOVABLE)

Some of these flags control page allocator reclaim and fallback
behavior. If they are specified for a slab alloc operation then they
are effective if a new slab has to be allocated. These are

1. Reclaim control

__GFP_WAIT
__GFP_IO
__GFP_FS
__GFP_NOWARN
__GFP_REPEAT
__GFP_NOFAIL
__GFP_NORETRY

2. Reserve control

__GFP_HIGH
__GFP_NOMEMALLOC

2. Fallback control

__GFP_HARDWALL (cpuset contraints)
__GFP_THISNODE (handled by SLAB on its own, SLUB/SLOB pass through)

AFAIK these make sense.

Then there are some other flags. I am wondering why they are in
GFP_LEVEL_MASK?

__GFP_COLD Does not make sense for slab allocators since we have
to touch the page immediately.

__GFP_COMP No effect. Added by the page allocator on their own
if a higher order allocs are used for a slab.

__GFP_MOVABLE The movability of a slab is determined by the
options specified at kmem_cache_create time. If this is
specified at kmalloc time then we will have some random
slabs movable and others not.

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/