The Linux page allocator, from mm/page_alloc.c, is the main memory allocation mechanism in the Linux kernel. It has to deal with allocations from many parts of the Linux kernel, under many different circumstances. Consequently the Linux page allocator is fairly complex, and easiest to understand in the context of its environment. Because of this, this wiki article begins with an explanation of exactly what the page allocator needs to do, before going into the details of how things are done.

I am writing this article bit by bit whenever I feel like it. If you feel like writing something, go right ahead - RikvanRiel

TableOfContents

memory allocators

gfp mask

page allocation order

alloc_pages

buddy allocator

per-cpu page queues

hot/cold pages

= NUMA tradeoffs ==

This page is part of the ["LinuxMMInternals"] section: ["CategoryLinuxMMInternals"]