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From: Alex Colomar <alx.manpages@gmail.com>
To: lnx-man <linux-man@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Doubts about mmap(2)
Date: Thu, 18 May 2023 10:53:47 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <d67a30a2-0f67-8ff0-e2da-6f8d8704dc7b@gmail.com> (raw)


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Hi!

I believe mmap(2) is confusing (see the emboldened parts):

DESCRIPTION
        mmap()  creates  a  new mapping in the virtual address space of
        the calling process.  **The starting address for the new  mapping
        is specified in addr.**  The length argument specifies the length
        of the mapping (which must be greater than 0).

        If addr is NULL, then the kernel chooses the (page‐aligned) ad‐
        dress at which to create the mapping; this is the most portable
        method  of  creating  a new mapping.  **If addr is not NULL, then
        the kernel takes it as a hint about where to place the mapping;
        on Linux, the kernel will pick a nearby page boundary** (but  al‐
        ways    above    or   equal   to   the   value   specified   by
        /proc/sys/vm/mmap_min_addr) and attempt to create  the  mapping
        there.   If  another  mapping  already exists there, the kernel
        picks a new address that may or may not  depend  on  the  hint.
        The address of the new mapping is returned as the result of the
        call.


The first emboldened sentence contradicts the second.  It's not the
starting address, but just a hint to find a nearby (>=) starting
address.  How about saying this?:

     A hint for the starting address for the new mapping is specified in
     addr.

Cheers,
Alex

-- 
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5

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             reply	other threads:[~2023-05-18  8:54 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2023-05-18  8:53 Alex Colomar [this message]
2023-05-18  9:03 ` Doubts about mmap(2) Alex Colomar
2023-05-19  4:47   ` Oskari Pirhonen

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