memoryallocators(9)
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MEMORYALLOCATORS(9) NetBSD Kernel Developer's Manual MEMORYALLOCATORS(9)
NAME
memoryallocators -- introduction to kernel memory allocators
DESCRIPTION
The NetBSD kernel provides several memory allocators, each with different
characteristics and purpose. This document summarizes the main differ-
ences between them.
The Malloc Allocator
The malloc(9) allocator can be used for variable-sized allocations in the
kernel address space. It is interrupt-safe, requires no setup (see
below), and is considered to be stable (given the number of years it has
been in the kernel).
This interface also allows associating a ``type'' with an allocation to
indicate what subsystem is using the memory allocated, thus providing
statistics as to the memory usage of different kernel subsystems. To
define a type, one should use the MALLOC_DEFINE macro, otherwise, one of
the built-in types, like M_TEMP can be used.
See malloc(9) for more details.
The Kmem Allocator
The kmem allocator is modelled after an interface of similar name imple-
mented in Solaris, and is under active development.
It is implemented on-top of the vmem(9) resource allocator (beyond the
scope of this document), meaning it will be using pool_cache(9) inter-
nally to speed-up common (small) sized allocations.
Like malloc(9), it requires no setup, but can't be used yet from inter-
rupt context.
See kmem_alloc(9), kmem_zalloc(9), and kmem_free(9) for more details.
The Pool Allocator
The pool(9) allocator is a fixed-size memory allocator. It requires set-
up (to initialize a memory pool) and is interrupt-safe.
See pool(9) for more details.
The Pool Cache Allocator
The pool cache allocator works on-top of the pool(9) allocator, also
allowing fixed-size allocation only, requires setup, and is interrupt-
safe.
The pool cache allocator is expected to be faster than other allocators,
including the ``normal'' pool allocator.
In the future this allocator is expected to have a per-CPU cache.
See pool_cache(9) for more details.
The UVM Kernel Memory Allocator
This is a low-level memory allocator interface. It allows variable-sized
allocations in multiples of PAGE_SIZE, and can be used to allocate both
wired and pageable kernel memory.
See uvm(9) for more details.
SEE ALSO
free(9), intro(9), kmem_alloc(9), kmem_free(9), kmem_zalloc(9),
malloc(9), pool(9), pool_cache(9), uvm(9), vmem(9)
AUTHORS
Elad Efrat <elad@NetBSD.org>
YAMAMOTO Takashi <yamt@NetBSD.org>
NetBSD 5.2.3 January 7, 2007 NetBSD 5.2.3
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