RE: [RFC PATCH 3/3] mm/map_contig: Add mmap(MAP_CONTIG) support

From: Guy Shattah
Date: Tue Oct 17 2017 - 10:21:06 EST




> On Tue, Oct 17 2017, Guy Shattah wrote:
> > Are you going to be OK with kernel API which implements contiguous
> > memory allocation? Possibly with mmap style? Many drivers could
> > utilize it instead of having their own weird and possibly non-standard
> > way to allocate contiguous memory. Such API won't be available for
> > user space.
>
> What you describe sounds like CMA. It may be far from perfect but itâs there
> already and drivers which need contiguous memory can allocate it.
>

1. CMA has to preconfigured. We're suggesting mechanism that works 'out of the box'
2. Due to the pre-allocation techniques CMA imposes limitation on maximum
allocated memory. RDMA users often require 1Gb or more, sometimes more.
3. CMA reserves memory in advance, our suggestion is using existing kernel memory
mechanisms (THP for example) to allocate memory.

Guy