Memory in Kernel space

Balaji Srinivasan (balaji@eecs.ukans.edu)
Thu, 30 May 1996 14:00:36 -0600 (CDT)


Hi ppl,

I have a couple of questions about memory allocation in kernel space..

I am modifying the kernel to do something that requires huge amounts of
memory in the kernel space. I allocate this memory in 4K blocks.
How much memory can I actually allocate in the kernel space as compared
to the RAM that I have (I have a 32 MB RAM and I need to allocate 25MB or so)

secondly If i increase the RAM to 128 MB can I use around 120 MB in kernel
space. What problems might I expect then...??

third and last, should I allocate 4K each time or 4K-16 each time (the blocksize
is 4096-16. (ie for efficiency should I call kmalloc with 4096 or 4090bytes..)

thanx a lot for ur patience... and sorry If i have asked any silly question..
(I am new to this)
thanx again
balaji

PS: Will the amount of memory that can be allocated go down with time (assuming
that no other processes are running at that time) (ie. will there be any sort
of fragmentation??)
thanx again

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balaji Srinivasan
Voice: (913)-864-7756(W) email: balaji@eecs.ukans.edu
(913)-841-3555(H) WWW : http://www.eecs.ukans.edu/~balaji