mem(4) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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MEM(4)               NetBSD/hppa Kernel Interfaces Manual               MEM(4)


NAME

     mem, kmem -- memory files and memory controller


SYNOPSIS

     mem* at mainbus0


DESCRIPTION

     The mem driver controls and restricts access to the systems memory by the
     hardware buses and the processor.

     It also provides an interface to userland through the special files
     /dev/mem and /dev/kmem.  Physical memory is accessed through /dev/mem,
     while kernel virtual memory is accessed through /dev/kmem.  Access to
     kernel virtual addresses not currently mapped to memory will fail.  On
     hppa, the physical memory range is always contiguous and starts at
     address 0; kernel virtual memory begins at address 0 as well.

     The writeability of the /dev/mem and /dev/kmem special files are con-
     trolled by the system securelevel in addition to the filesystem permis-
     sions.


FILES

     /dev/mem
     /dev/kmem


HISTORY

     The mem driver originates from OpenBSD.  It was ported to NetBSD 1.6 by
     Matthew Fredette.


BUGS

     On some systems featuring a ``Viper'' memory controller, NetBSD may not
     configure bus arbitration correctly, causing the boot process to freeze
     during either mem or hppa/cpu(4) device probe.

NetBSD 8.1                     February 17, 2017                    NetBSD 8.1