manual: Document the MAP_HUGETLB, MADV_HUGEPAGE, MADV_NOHUGEPAGE flags

1 files changed, 49 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/manual/llio.texi b/manual/llio.texi
index 7dd4e06..41c3e06 100644
--- a/manual/llio.texi
+++ b/manual/llio.texi
@@ -1377,15 +1377,18 @@ available.
 
 Memory mapping only works on entire pages of memory.  Thus, addresses
 for mapping must be page-aligned, and length values will be rounded up.
-To determine the size of a page the machine uses one should use
+To determine the default size of a page the machine uses one should use:
 
 @vindex _SC_PAGESIZE
 @smallexample
 size_t page_size = (size_t) sysconf (_SC_PAGESIZE);
 @end smallexample
 
-@noindent
-These functions are declared in @file{sys/mman.h}.
+On some systems, mappings can use larger page sizes
+for certain files, and applications can request larger page sizes for
+anonymous mappings as well (see the @code{MAP_HUGETLB} flag below).
+
+The following functions are declared in @file{sys/mman.h}:
 
 @deftypefun {void *} mmap (void *@var{address}, size_t @var{length}, int @var{protect}, int @var{flags}, int @var{filedes}, off_t @var{offset})
 @standards{POSIX, sys/mman.h}
@@ -1452,6 +1455,29 @@ On some systems using private anonymous mmaps is more efficient than using
 @code{malloc} for large blocks.  This is not an issue with @theglibc{},
 as the included @code{malloc} automatically uses @code{mmap} where appropriate.
 
+@item MAP_HUGETLB
+@standards{Linux, sys/mman.h}
+This requests that the system uses an alternative page size which is
+larger than the default page size for the mapping.  For some workloads,
+increasing the page size for large mappings improves performance because
+the system needs to handle far fewer pages.  For other workloads which
+require frequent transfer of pages between storage or different nodes,
+the decreased page granularity may cause performance problems due to the
+increased page size and larger transfers.
+
+In order to create the mapping, the system needs physically contiguous
+memory of the size of the increased page size.  As a result,
+@code{MAP_HUGETLB} mappings are affected by memory fragmentation, and
+their creation can fail even if plenty of memory is available in the
+system.
+
+Not all file systems support mappings with an increased page size.
+
+The @code{MAP_HUGETLB} flag is specific to Linux.
+
+@c There is a mechanism to select different hugepage sizes; see
+@c include/uapi/asm-generic/hugetlb_encode.h in the kernel sources.
+
 @c Linux has some other MAP_ options, which I have not discussed here.
 @c MAP_DENYWRITE, MAP_EXECUTABLE and MAP_GROWSDOWN don't seem applicable to
 @c user programs (and I don't understand the last two).  MAP_LOCKED does
@@ -1468,8 +1494,11 @@ Possible errors include:
 
 @item EINVAL
 
-Either @var{address} was unusable, or inconsistent @var{flags} were
-given.
+Either @var{address} was unusable (because it is not a multiple of the
+applicable page size), or inconsistent @var{flags} were given.
+
+If @code{MAP_HUGETLB} was specified, the file or system does not support
+large page sizes.
 
 @item EACCES
 
@@ -1670,6 +1699,21 @@ The region is no longer needed.  The kernel may free these pages,
 causing any changes to the pages to be lost, as well as swapped
 out pages to be discarded.
 
+@item MADV_HUGEPAGE
+@standards{Linux, sys/mman.h}
+Indicate that it is beneficial to increase the page size for this
+mapping.  This can improve performance for larger mappings because the
+system needs to handle far fewer pages.  However, if parts of the
+mapping are frequently transferred between storage or different nodes,
+performance may suffer because individual transfers can become
+substantially larger due to the increased page size.
+
+This flag is specific to Linux.
+
+@item MADV_NOHUGEPAGE
+Undo the effect of a previous @code{MADV_HUGEPAGE} advice.  This flag
+is specific to Linux.
+
 @end vtable
 
 The POSIX names are slightly different, but with the same meanings: