mm: clean up get_user_pages_fast() documentation

[deliverable/linux.git] / mm / memory.c

diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
index 4126dd16778c36595af938988c9d8ec144d0f8aa..891bad0613f484f132b14ce6410f9c2dbebdc1eb 100644 (file)
--- a/mm/memory.c
+++ b/mm/memory.c
@@ -1360,6 +1360,56 @@ int __get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm,
        return i;
 }
 
+/**
+ * get_user_pages() - pin user pages in memory
+ * @tsk:       task_struct of target task
+ * @mm:                mm_struct of target mm
+ * @start:     starting user address
+ * @len:       number of pages from start to pin
+ * @write:     whether pages will be written to by the caller
+ * @force:     whether to force write access even if user mapping is
+ *             readonly. This will result in the page being COWed even
+ *             in MAP_SHARED mappings. You do not want this.
+ * @pages:     array that receives pointers to the pages pinned.
+ *             Should be at least nr_pages long. Or NULL, if caller
+ *             only intends to ensure the pages are faulted in.
+ * @vmas:      array of pointers to vmas corresponding to each page.
+ *             Or NULL if the caller does not require them.
+ *
+ * Returns number of pages pinned. This may be fewer than the number
+ * requested. If len is 0 or negative, returns 0. If no pages
+ * were pinned, returns -errno. Each page returned must be released
+ * with a put_page() call when it is finished with. vmas will only
+ * remain valid while mmap_sem is held.
+ *
+ * Must be called with mmap_sem held for read or write.
+ *
+ * get_user_pages walks a process's page tables and takes a reference to
+ * each struct page that each user address corresponds to at a given
+ * instant. That is, it takes the page that would be accessed if a user
+ * thread accesses the given user virtual address at that instant.
+ *
+ * This does not guarantee that the page exists in the user mappings when
+ * get_user_pages returns, and there may even be a completely different
+ * page there in some cases (eg. if mmapped pagecache has been invalidated
+ * and subsequently re faulted). However it does guarantee that the page
+ * won't be freed completely. And mostly callers simply care that the page
+ * contains data that was valid *at some point in time*. Typically, an IO
+ * or similar operation cannot guarantee anything stronger anyway because
+ * locks can't be held over the syscall boundary.
+ *
+ * If write=0, the page must not be written to. If the page is written to,
+ * set_page_dirty (or set_page_dirty_lock, as appropriate) must be called
+ * after the page is finished with, and before put_page is called.
+ *
+ * get_user_pages is typically used for fewer-copy IO operations, to get a
+ * handle on the memory by some means other than accesses via the user virtual
+ * addresses. The pages may be submitted for DMA to devices or accessed via
+ * their kernel linear mapping (via the kmap APIs). Care should be taken to
+ * use the correct cache flushing APIs.
+ *
+ * See also get_user_pages_fast, for performance critical applications.
+ */
 int get_user_pages(struct task_struct *tsk, struct mm_struct *mm,
                unsigned long start, int len, int write, int force,
                struct page **pages, struct vm_area_struct **vmas)