Hi, The GFP_NOIO flag used for kmalloc is currently defined to be '__GFP_RECLAIM' #define GFP_NOIO (__GFP_RECLAIM) #define __GFP_RECLAIM ((__force gfp_t)(___GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM|___GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM However, prior to 4.4 kernel, this flag was defined as __GFP_WAIT. #define GFP_NOIO (__GFP_WAIT) Queries - ====== 1] Can any physical disk IO happen due to memory allocation done using 'GFP_NOIO' ? The reason to ask is since the GFP_NOIO is now modified to use __GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM, so I am thinking that physical disk IO may probably happen whiel swapping the stale pages to disk in kswapd. 2] If kernel code wants to use kmalloc() and wants to ensure there is NO any physical/disk IO due to kmalloc, shall the kernel code use __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM instead of GFP_NOIO ? Thanks, Suraj -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs