From: Alexandru Elisei <alexandru.elisei@xxxxxxx> The physical allocator has gotten simpler, document its limitations and current/expected usage. Signed-off-by: Alexandru Elisei <alexandru.elisei@xxxxxxx> --- lib/alloc_phys.h | 15 +++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/lib/alloc_phys.h b/lib/alloc_phys.h index 86b3d021..861959cf 100644 --- a/lib/alloc_phys.h +++ b/lib/alloc_phys.h @@ -4,10 +4,17 @@ * phys_alloc is a very simple allocator which allows physical memory * to be partitioned into regions until all memory is allocated. * - * Note: This is such a simple allocator that there is no way to free - * a region. For more complicated memory management a single region - * can be allocated, but then have its memory managed by a more - * sophisticated allocator, e.g. a page allocator. + * Note: This is such a simple allocator that there is no way to free a + * region, and concurrent allocations are not supported. As such, it is + * mostly suitable for the architecture setup code, and less so for + * allocating memory in a test. For more complicated memory management a + * single region can be allocated (or the entire free memory), but then + * have that memory managed by a more sophisticated allocator, e.g. the + * page or the vmalloc allocators. + * + * Because of its simplicity, phys_alloc can easily perform cache + * maintenance on the state tracking variables it maintains, making it + * suitable for architectures which require such operations. * * Copyright (C) 2014, Red Hat Inc, Andrew Jones <drjones@xxxxxxxxxx> * -- 2.40.1
