xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/mem.4 (revision a0409676120c1e558d0ade943019934e0f15118d)
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28.\"	@(#)mem.4	5.3 (Berkeley) 5/2/91
29.\" $FreeBSD$
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31.Dd August 25, 2020
32.Dt MEM 4
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm mem ,
36.Nm kmem
37.Nd memory files
38.Sh SYNOPSIS
39.Cd "device mem"
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41The special file
42.Pa /dev/mem
43is an interface to the physical memory of the computer.
44Byte offsets in this file are interpreted as physical memory addresses.
45Reading and writing this file is equivalent to reading and writing
46memory itself.
47Only offsets within the bounds of
48.Pa /dev/mem
49are allowed.
50.Pp
51Kernel virtual memory is accessed through the interface
52.Pa /dev/kmem
53in the same manner as
54.Pa /dev/mem .
55Only kernel virtual addresses that are currently mapped to memory are allowed.
56.Pp
57On ISA the I/O memory space begins at physical address 0x000a0000
58and runs to 0x00100000.
59The
60per-process data
61size
62for the current process
63is
64.Dv UPAGES
65long, and ends at virtual
66address 0xf0000000.
67.Sh IOCTL INTERFACE
68The
69.Dv MEM_EXTRACT_PADDR
70ioctl can be used to look up the physical address and NUMA domain of a given
71virtual address in the calling process' address space.
72The request is described by
73.Bd -literal
74struct mem_extract {
75	uint64_t	me_vaddr;	/* input */
76	uint64_t	me_paddr;	/* output */
77	int		me_domain;	/* output */
78	int		me_state;	/* output */
79};
80.Ed
81.Pp
82The ioctl returns an error if the address is not valid.
83The information returned by
84.Dv MEM_EXTRACT_PADDR
85may be out of date by the time that the ioctl call returns.
86Specifically, concurrent system calls, page faults, or system page reclamation
87activity may have unmapped the virtual page or replaced the backing physical
88page before the ioctl call returns.
89Wired pages, e.g., those locked by
90.Xr mlock 2 ,
91will not be reclaimed by the system.
92.Pp
93The
94.Fa me_state
95field provides information about the state of the virtual page:
96.Bl -tag -width indent
97.It Dv ME_STATE_INVALID
98The virtual address is invalid.
99.It Dv ME_STATE_VALID
100The virtual address is valid but is not mapped at the time of the ioctl call.
101.It Dv ME_STATE_MAPPED
102The virtual address corresponds to a physical page mapping, and the
103.Fa me_paddr
104and
105.Fa me_domain
106fields are valid.
107.Pp
108Several architectures allow attributes to be associated with ranges of physical
109memory.
110These attributes can be manipulated via
111.Fn ioctl
112calls performed on
113.Pa /dev/mem .
114Declarations and data types are to be found in
115.In sys/memrange.h .
116.Pp
117The specific attributes, and number of programmable ranges may vary between
118architectures.
119The full set of supported attributes is:
120.Bl -tag -width indent
121.It Dv MDF_UNCACHEABLE
122The region is not cached.
123.It Dv MDF_WRITECOMBINE
124Writes to the region may be combined or performed out of order.
125.It Dv MDF_WRITETHROUGH
126Writes to the region are committed synchronously.
127.It Dv MDF_WRITEBACK
128Writes to the region are committed asynchronously.
129.It Dv MDF_WRITEPROTECT
130The region cannot be written to.
131.El
132.Pp
133Memory ranges are described by
134.Bd -literal
135struct mem_range_desc {
136	uint64_t	mr_base;	/* physical base address */
137	uint64_t	mr_len;		/* physical length of region */
138	int		mr_flags;	/* attributes of region */
139	char		mr_owner[8];
140};
141.Ed
142.Pp
143In addition to the region attributes listed above, the following flags
144may also be set in the
145.Fa mr_flags
146field:
147.Bl -tag -width indent
148.It MDF_FIXBASE
149The region's base address cannot be changed.
150.It MDF_FIXLEN
151The region's length cannot be changed.
152.It MDF_FIRMWARE
153The region is believed to have been established by the system firmware.
154.It MDF_ACTIVE
155The region is currently active.
156.It MDF_BOGUS
157We believe the region to be invalid or otherwise erroneous.
158.It MDF_FIXACTIVE
159The region cannot be disabled.
160.It MDF_BUSY
161The region is currently owned by another process and may not be
162altered.
163.El
164.Pp
165Operations are performed using
166.Bd -literal
167struct mem_range_op {
168	struct mem_range_desc	*mo_desc;
169	int			mo_arg[2];
170};
171.Ed
172.Pp
173The
174.Dv MEMRANGE_GET
175ioctl is used to retrieve current memory range attributes.
176If
177.Va mo_arg[0]
178is set to 0, it will be updated with the total number of memory range
179descriptors.
180If greater than 0, the array at
181.Va mo_desc
182will be filled with a corresponding number of descriptor structures,
183or the maximum, whichever is less.
184.Pp
185The
186.Dv MEMRANGE_SET
187ioctl is used to add, alter and remove memory range attributes.
188A range
189with the
190.Dv MDF_FIXACTIVE
191flag may not be removed; a range with the
192.Dv MDF_BUSY
193flag may not be removed or updated.
194.Pp
195.Va mo_arg[0]
196should be set to
197.Dv MEMRANGE_SET_UPDATE
198to update an existing or establish a new range, or to
199.Dv MEMRANGE_SET_REMOVE
200to remove a range.
201.El
202.Sh RETURN VALUES
203.Bl -tag -width Er
204.It Bq Er EOPNOTSUPP
205Memory range operations are not supported on this architecture.
206.It Bq Er ENXIO
207No memory range descriptors are available (e.g., firmware has not enabled
208any).
209.It Bq Er EINVAL
210The memory range supplied as an argument is invalid or overlaps another
211range in a fashion not supported by this architecture.
212.It Bq Er EBUSY
213An attempt to remove or update a range failed because the range is busy.
214.It Bq Er ENOSPC
215An attempt to create a new range failed due to a shortage of hardware
216resources (e.g., descriptor slots).
217.It Bq Er ENOENT
218An attempt to remove a range failed because no range matches the descriptor
219base/length supplied.
220.It Bq Er EPERM
221An attempt to remove a range failed because the range is permanently
222enabled.
223.El
224.Sh FILES
225.Bl -tag -width /dev/kmem -compact
226.It Pa /dev/mem
227.It Pa /dev/kmem
228.El
229.Sh SEE ALSO
230.Xr kvm 3 ,
231.Xr memcontrol 8
232.Sh HISTORY
233The
234.Nm mem
235and
236.Nm kmem
237files appeared in
238.At v6 .
239The ioctl interface for memory range attributes was added in
240.Fx 3.2 .
241.Sh BUGS
242Busy range attributes are not yet managed correctly.
243.Pp
244This device is required for all users of
245.Xr kvm 3
246to operate.
247