Re: kernel page size explanation

[Nix <nix@esperi.org.uk>]

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005, VASM wrote:
> i had one question 
> does the linux kernel support only one default page size even if the
> processor on which it is working supports multiple ?

No. Some architectures have compile-time support for multiple different
page sizes (e.g. Itanium, SPARC64); many have support for a
(non-swappable) `large pages) system, and a filesystem backed by huge
pages. (Often, the kernel is stored in huge pages, to keep the number
of page table entries wasted by the nonswappable kernel to a minimum.)

What is *not* presently supported is using multiple page sizes to
back userspace processes; that size is currently fixed at compile-time,
even on architectures supporting multiple variably-sized pages.

-- 
`But of course, GR is the very best relativity for the masses.'
 --- Wayne Throop