pool(9) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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POOL(9)                      NetBSD Kernel Manual                      POOL(9)


NAME
pool_init, pool_destroy, pool_get, pool_put, pool_prime, pool_sethiwat, pool_setlowat - resource-pool manager
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/pool.h> void pool_init(struct pool *, size_t size, u_int align, u_int align_offset, int nitems, char *wchan, u_int pagesz, void *(*palloc)(unsigned long sz, int flags, int tag), void (*prelease)(void *v, unsigned long sz, int tag), int mtag); void pool_destroy(struct pool *pp); void * pool_get(struct pool *pp, int flags); void pool_put(struct pool *pp, void *item); int pool_prime(struct pool *pp, int nitems, caddr_t storage); void pool_sethiwat(struct pool *pp, int n); void pool_setlowat(struct pool *pp, int n); POOL_STORAGE_SIZE(size, nitems);
DESCRIPTION
These utility routines provide management of pools of fixed-sized areas of memory. Resource pools set aside an amount of memory for exclusive use by the resource pool owner. This can be used by applications to guarantee the availability of a minimum amount of memory needed to con- tinue operation independent of the memory resources currently available from the system-wide memory allocator (malloc(9)). The pool manager can optionally obtain temporary memory by calling the palloc() function passed to pool_init(), for extra pool items in case the number of alloca- tions exceeds the nominal number of pool items managed by a pool re- source. This temporary memory will be automatically returned to the sys- tem at a later time. INITIALIZING A POOL The function pool_init() initializes a resource pool. The arguments are: pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. size Specifies the size of the memory items managed by the pool. align Specifies the memory address alignment of the items re- turned by pool_get(). This argument must be a power of two. If zero, the alignment defaults to a architecture- specific natural alignment. align_offset The offset within an item to which the align parameter applies. nitems Specifies the number of memory items that are allocated to the pool at creation time. This number may be zero, in which case pool_prime() can be used at a later time to add permanent items to the pool. wchan The `wait channel' passed on to tsleep(9) if pool_get() must wait for items to be returned to the pool. pagesz The unit which is used to allocate additional memory to the pool. It must be a power of two. palloc is called to add additional memory if the pool is deplet- ed. It must return pagesz aligned memory. The argument sz shall be a multiple of pagesz. prelease is called to release pages back to the system. palloc() and prelease() may be NULL, in which case the pool manag- er uses uvm_km_kmemalloc(9) and uvm_km_free(9) to allo- cate and release memory using the kernel_map (see uvm(9)). mtag The memory tag passed to palloc() and prelease() when al- locating or releasing memory pages. DESTROYING A POOL The function pool_destroy() destroys a resource pool. It takes a single argument pp identifying the pool resource instance. ALLOCATING ITEMS FROM A POOL pool_get() allocates an item from the pool and returns a pointer to it. The arguments are: pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. flags One or more of of PR_URGENT, PR_WAITOK or PR_LIMITFAIL, that define behaviour in case the pooled resources are depleted. If no resources are available and PR_WAITOK is given, this function will wait until items are returned to the pool. Otherwise pool_get() returns NULL. If PR_URGENT is speci- fied and no items are available and palloc() cannot allocate a new page, the system will panic (XXX). If both PR_LIMITFAIL and PR_WAITOK is specified, and the pool has reached its hard limit, pool_get() will return NULL without waiting, allowing the caller to do its own garbage collec- tion; however, it will still wait if the pool is not yet at its hard limit. RETURNING ITEMS TO A POOL pool_put() returns the pool item pointed at by item to the resource pool identified by the pool handle pp. If the number of available items in the pool exceeds the maximum pool size set by pool_sethiwat() and there are no outstanding requests for pool items, the excess items will be re- turned to the system by calling prelease(). The arguments to pool_put() are: pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. item A pointer to a pool item previously obtained by pool_get(). PRIMING A POOL pool_prime() adds items to the pool. Storage space for the items is ei- ther allocated by using the page allocation routine specified to pool_create(), or provided to pool_prime() by the caller through the storage parameter. The arguments to pool_prime() are: pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. nitems The number of items to add to the pool. storage Optional pre-allocated storage. This function may return ENOMEM in case the requested number of items could not be allocated. Otherwise, the return value is 0. SETTING POOL RESOURCE WATERMARKS A pool will attempt to increase its resource usage to keep up with the demand for its items. Conversely, it will return unused memory to the system should the number of accumulated unused items in the pool exceed a programmable limit. The limits for the minimum and maximum number of items which a pool should keep at hand are known as the high and low watermarks. The functions pool_sethiwat() and pool_setlowat() set a pool's high and low watermarks, respectively. pool_sethiwat() pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. n The maximum number of items to keep in the pool. As items are returned and the total number of pages in the pool is larger than the maximum set by this function, any completely unused pages are released immediately (by calling prelease()). If this function is not used to specify a max- imum number of items, the pages will remain associated with the pool until the system runs low on memory, at which point the VM system will try to reclaim unused pages. pool_setlowat() pp The handle identifying the pool resource instance. n The minimum number of items to keep in the pool. The number pages in the pool will not decrease below the required value to accommodate the minimum number of items specified by this function. Unlike pool_prime(), this function does not allo- cate the necessary memory up-front. POTENTIAL PITFALLS Note that undefined behaviour results when mixing the storage providing methods supported by the pool resource routines. The pool resource code uses a per-pool lock to protect its internal state. If any pool functions are called in an interrupt context, the caller must block all interrupts that might cause the code to be reen- tered. DIAGNOSTICS Pool usage logs can be enabled by defining the compile-time option POOL_DIAGNOSTIC.
CODE REFERENCES
The pool manager is implemented in the file sys/kern/subr_pool.c.
SEE ALSO
free(9), malloc(9), uvm(9)
HISTORY
The NetBSD pool manager appeared in NetBSD 1.4. NetBSD 1.6 July 20, 2001 3
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