Re: [PATCH] linux/x86-64: allow kernel init memory to be freed

[Keir Fraser <keir@xensource.com>]

On 2/3/07 11:04, "Jan Beulich" <jbeulich@novell.com> wrote:

> +  if (addr >= __START_KERNEL_map) {
> +   /* make_readonly() reports all kernel addresses. */
> +   __make_page_writable(__va(__pa(addr)));
> +   __make_page_readonly((void *)addr);
> +  }

I'm confused by this:
 1. Why does the write-protection need to be changed unconditionally, or
even at all? Is there anything write-protected in the init sections?
 2. Is it safe to keep init mappings above START_KERNEL_map at all, even
read-only? I'd have thought we'd be in trouble if the balloon driver manages
to allocate those pages and tries to free them to Xen. Perhaps they should
be blown away entirely?

 -- Keir