Re: PATCH 2.3.26: kmalloc GFP_ZERO

Jes Sorensen (Jes.Sorensen@cern.ch)
09 Nov 1999 10:38:12 +0100


>>>>> "Jeff" == Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@mandrakesoft.com> writes:

Jeff> Attached is a patch against 2.3.26 which adds the GFP_ZERO flag.
Jeff> There is a lot of code which does

Jeff> ptr = kmalloc(size, ...); memset (ptr, 0, size);

Jeff> This patch eliminates that second step. I didn't add it to
Jeff> __kmem_cache_alloc because that routine was already complex
Jeff> enough.

By doing this you add another `if' clause to hot path code in the
memory allocator, this is IMHO not a very good idea. Let the drivers
which know they need zeroed memory, clear it out themselves.

Putting it in kmem_cache_alloc would be even worse since it would
defeat the entire idea of SLAB.

Jes

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/