Book Image

Mastering Linux Kernel Development

By : CH Raghav Maruthi
Book Image

Mastering Linux Kernel Development

By: CH Raghav Maruthi

Overview of this book

Mastering Linux Kernel Development looks at the Linux kernel, its internal arrangement and design, and various core subsystems, helping you to gain significant understanding of this open source marvel. You will look at how the Linux kernel, which possesses a kind of collective intelligence thanks to its scores of contributors, remains so elegant owing to its great design. This book also looks at all the key kernel code, core data structures, functions, and macros, giving you a comprehensive foundation of the implementation details of the kernel’s core services and mechanisms. You will also look at the Linux kernel as well-designed software, which gives us insights into software design in general that are easily scalable yet fundamentally strong and safe. By the end of this book, you will have considerable understanding of and appreciation for the Linux kernel.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface
Index

Chapter 4. Memory Management and Allocators

The efficiency of memory management broadly sets the efficiency of the whole kernel. Casually managed memory systems can seriously impact the performance of other subsystems, making memory a critical component of the kernel. This subsystem sets all processes and kernel services in motion by virtualizing physical memory and managing all dynamic allocation requests initiated by them. The memory subsystem also handles a wide spectrum of operations in sustaining operational efficiency and optimizing resources. The operations are both architecture specific and independent, which mandates the overall design and implementation to be just and tweakable. We will closely look at the following aspects in this chapter in our effort to comprehend this colossal subsystem:

  • Physical memory representation
  • Concepts of nodes and zones
  • Page allocator
  • Buddy system
  • Kmalloc allocations
  • Slab caches
  • Vmalloc allocations
  • Contiguous memory allocations