From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753679AbYFCPxe (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:53:34 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752807AbYFCPxY (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:53:24 -0400 Received: from rv-out-0506.google.com ([209.85.198.225]:54409 "EHLO rv-out-0506.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751682AbYFCPxX (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:53:23 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=EOdi4nIHAMPKqObrzwTJvCfddOQ8lrtIJsySPu6PcdSw8zAo7ARhXgkA1yEdv6yXhs0Aj6WBybT3sWGFPtFLlhmK1DsbZ1pHMcTNTO7LOOD1cjImIAzWY45QdXgLZSwOfgPCUKxRVmM2YYxZe86LPIvQ9+gNcSgz4L3todue7g4= Message-ID: <19f34abd0806030853p747c01bft7b773b21e1361bcb@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 17:53:22 +0200 From: "Vegard Nossum" To: npiggin@suse.de, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: + x86-implement-pte_special.patch added to -mm tree Cc: mm-commits@vger.kernel.org, andi@firstfloor.org, apw@shadowen.org, jens.axboe@oracle.com, mingo@elte.hu, pbadari@us.ibm.com, shaggy@austin.ibm.com, tglx@linutronix.de, zach.brown@oracle.com In-Reply-To: <200806022356.m52NuRTj006330@imap1.linux-foundation.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <200806022356.m52NuRTj006330@imap1.linux-foundation.org> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On 6/3/08, akpm@linux-foundation.org wrote: > > The patch titled > x86: implement pte_special > has been added to the -mm tree. Its filename is > x86-implement-pte_special.patch ... > ------------------------------------------------------ > Subject: x86: implement pte_special > From: Nick Piggin > > Implement the pte_special bit for x86. This is required to support > lockless get_user_pages, because we need to know whether or not we can > refcount a particular page given only its pte (and no vma). Wait... what the heck is a "special" page? Isn't that a terrible name for _anything_? Or is there a tradition to the name? It sounds like it should be named "novma" or "autonomous" or something instead. Something that carries at least a little more information than "special". Where can I find the documentation for this bit? Has this been discussed on LKML? Is the name a result of consensus or whim? Help! :-) Vegard -- "The animistic metaphor of the bug that maliciously sneaked in while the programmer was not looking is intellectually dishonest as it disguises that the error is the programmer's own creation." -- E. W. Dijkstra, EWD1036