[PATCH v3] docs: proc.rst: meminfo: briefly describe gaps in memory accounting

From: Mike Rapoport
Date: Wed Apr 21 2021 - 02:11:48 EST


From: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Add a paragraph that explains that it may happen that the counters in
/proc/meminfo do not add up to the overall memory usage.

Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
* Add sentense about counters overlap
* Use wording suggested by Matthew

v2: Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20210420121354.1160437-1-rppt@xxxxxxxxxx
* Add brief changelog
* Fix typo
* Update example about network memory usage according to Eric's comment at

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CANn89iKprp7WYeZy4RRO5jHykprnSCcVBc7Tk14Ui_MA9OK7Fg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

v1: Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20210420085105.1156640-1-rppt@xxxxxxxxxx
Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst | 11 +++++++++--
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst
index 48fbfc336ebf..0a07a5025571 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/proc.rst
@@ -929,8 +929,15 @@ meminfo
~~~~~~~

Provides information about distribution and utilization of memory. This
-varies by architecture and compile options. The following is from a
-16GB PIII, which has highmem enabled. You may not have all of these fields.
+varies by architecture and compile options. Some of the counters reported
+here overlap. The memory reported by the non overlapping counters may not
+add up to the overall memory usage and the difference for some workloads
+can be substantial. In many cases there are other means to find out
+additional memory using subsystem specific interfaces, for instance
+/proc/net/sockstat for TCP memory allocations.
+
+The following is from a 16GB PIII, which has highmem enabled.
+You may not have all of these fields.

::

--
2.29.2