Add some explaination to the layout of vmemmap virtual address space and how physical page mapping is only used for valid PFNs present at any point on the system.
Reviewed-by: Aneesh Kumar K.V <aneesh.ku...@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Anshuman Khandual <khand...@linux.vnet.ibm.com> --- Previous discussions around this http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/584111/ arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable-hash64.c | 75 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 75 insertions(+) diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable-hash64.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable-hash64.c index 8b85a14..16877f6 100644 --- a/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable-hash64.c +++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/pgtable-hash64.c @@ -22,6 +22,81 @@ #ifdef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP /* + * vmemmap is the starting address of the virtual address space where + * struct pages are allocated for all possible PFNs present on the system + * including holes and bad memory (hence sparse). These virtual struct + * pages are stored in sequence in this virtual address space irrespective + * of the fact whether the corresponding PFN is valid or not. This achieves + * constant relationship between address of struct page and its PFN. + * + * During boot or memory hotplug operation when a new memory section is + * added, physical memory allocation (including hash table bolting) will + * be performed for the set of struct pages which are part of the memory + * section. This saves memory by not allocating struct pages for PFNs + * which are not valid. + * + * ---------------------------------------------- + * | PHYSICAL ALLOCATION OF VIRTUAL STRUCT PAGES| + * ---------------------------------------------- + * + * f000000000000000 c000000000000000 + * vmemmap +--------------+ +--------------+ + * + | page struct | +--------------> | page struct | + * | +--------------+ +--------------+ + * | | page struct | +--------------> | page struct | + * | +--------------+ | +--------------+ + * | | page struct | + +------> | page struct | + * | +--------------+ | +--------------+ + * | | page struct | | +--> | page struct | + * | +--------------+ | | +--------------+ + * | | page struct | | | + * | +--------------+ | | + * | | page struct | | | + * | +--------------+ | | + * | | page struct | | | + * | +--------------+ | | + * | | page struct | | | + * | +--------------+ | | + * | | page struct | +-------+ | + * | +--------------+ | + * | | page struct | +-----------+ + * | +--------------+ + * | | page struct | No mapping + * | +--------------+ + * | | page struct | No mapping + * v +--------------+ + * + * ----------------------------------------- + * | RELATION BETWEEN STRUCT PAGES AND PFNS| + * ----------------------------------------- + * + * vmemmap +--------------+ +---------------+ + * + | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | | + * | +--------------+ + * | | | + * | +--------------+ + * | | | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | | + * | +--------------+ + * | | | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * | +--------------+ +---------------+ + * | | page struct | +-------------> | PFN | + * v +--------------+ +---------------+ + */ +/* * On hash-based CPUs, the vmemmap is bolted in the hash table. * */ -- 1.9.3
