Understanding The Linux Virtual Memory Manager

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Understanding TheLinux Virtual Memory ManagerMelGormanJuly9,2007PrefaceLinuxis develop ,itiscommontorequestco (VM) ,Linuxdo esfollowthetraditionaldevelopmentcycleof designtoimplementationbutitismorecommonf orchangestob emadeinreactiontohowthesystemb ehavedinthe real-world andintuitivedecisionsbydevelop erformswellinpracticebutthereisverylittl eVMsp eci cdo cumentationavailableexceptforafewincompl eteoverviewsinasmallnumb erofwebsites,exceptthewebsitecontaininga nearlierdraftofthisb o okofcourse!Thishasleadtothesituationwher etheVMisfullyundersto o donlybyasmallnumb erofcoredevelop erslo deandstudythe o ok, ductionofwhattoexp ,thetheoryitisisbasedonwillalsob eintro eamemorymanagementtheoryb o ,theapp endixincludesadetailedco decommen-taryonasigni cantp erorresearcherneedstoinvestinunderstandi ngwhatishapp depatternsevenb etweenma , edecipherableinanumb ,acorekernelsubsystem,workswill ndanswerstomanyoftheirquestionsinthisb o ,morethananyothersubsystem,iPrefaceiia ectstheoverallp erformanceoftheop o orlyundersto o dandbadlydo cumentedsubsysteminLinux,partial

of time a developer or researcher needs to invest in understanding what is happening inside the Linux VM. As VM implementations tend to follow similar code patterns even between major versions. This means that with a solid understanding of the 2.4 VM, the later 2.5 development VMs and the nal 2.6 release will be decipherable in a number of weeks.

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