Re: [PATCH 3/3 v3] mm/vmalloc: Cache the vmalloc memory info

From: Rasmus Villemoes
Date: Sun Aug 23 2015 - 17:56:33 EST


I was curious why these fields were ever added to /proc/meminfo, and dug
up this:

commit d262ee3ee6ba4f5f6125571d93d9d63191d2ef76
Author: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat Apr 12 12:59:04 2003 -0700

[PATCH] vmalloc stats in /proc/meminfo

From: Matt Porter <porter@xxxxxxx>

There was a thread a while back on lkml where Dave Hansen proposed this
simple vmalloc usage reporting patch. The thread pretty much died out as
most people seemed focused on what VM loading type bugs it could solve. I
had posted that this type of information was really valuable in debugging
embedded Linux board ports. A common example is where people do arch
specific setup that limits there vmalloc space and then they find modules
won't load. ;) Having the Vmalloc* info readily available is real useful in
helping folks to fix their kernel ports.

That thread is at <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/53360>.

[Maybe one could just remove the fields and see if anybody actually
notices/cares any longer. Or, if they are only used by kernel
developers, put them in their own file.]

Rasmus
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