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MADVISE(2) BSD System Calls Manual MADVISE(2) NAME madvise, posix_madvise -- give advice about use of memory SYNOPSIS #include <sys/mman.h> int madvise(void *addr, size_t len, int advice); int posix_madvise(void *addr, size_t len, int advice); DESCRIPTION The madvise() system call allows a process that has knowledge of its mem-ory memory ory behavior to describe it to the system. The advice passed in may be used by the system to alter its virtual memory paging strategy. This advice may improve application and system performance. The behavior specified in advice can only be one of the following values: MADV_NORMAL Indicates that the application has no advice to give on its behavior in the specified address range. This is the system default behavior. This is used with madvise() system call. POSIX_MADV_NORMAL Same as MADV_NORMAL but used with posix_madvise() system call. MADV_SEQUENTIAL Indicates that the application expects to access this address range in a sequential manner. This is used with madvise() system call. POSIX_MADV_SEQUENTIAL Same as MADV_SEQUENTIAL but used with posix_madvise() system call. MADV_RANDOM Indicates that the application expects to access this address range in a random manner. This is used with madvise() system call. POSIX_MADV_RANDOM Same as MADV_RANDOM but used with posix_madvise() system call. MADV_WILLNEED Indicates that the application expects to access this address range soon. This is used with madvise() system call. POSIX_MADV_WILLNEED Same as MADV_WILLNEED but used with posix_madvise() sys-tem system tem call. MADV_DONTNEED Indicates that the application is not expecting to access this address range soon. This is used with madvise() system call. POSIX_MADV_DONTNEED Same as MADV_DONTNEED but used with posix_madvise() sys-tem system tem call. MADV_FREE Indicates that the application will not need the infor-mation information mation contained in this address range, so the pages may be reused right away. The address range will remain valid. This is used with madvise() system call. The posix_madvise() behaves same as madvise() except that it uses values with POSIX_ prefix for the advice system call argument. RETURN VALUES Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS madvise() fails if one or more of the following are true: [EINVAL] The value of advice is incorrect. [EINVAL] The address range includes unallocated regions. [ENOMEM] The virtual address range specified by the addr and len are outside the range allowed for the address space. LEGACY SYNOPSIS #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/mman.h> int madvise(caddr_t addr, size_t len, int advice); int posix_madvise(caddr_t addr, size_t len, int advice); The include file <sys/types.h> is necessary. The type of addr has changed. SEE ALSO mincore(2), minherit(2), mprotect(2), msync(2), munmap(2), compat(5) HISTORY The madvise function first appeared in 4.4BSD. The posix_madvise func-tion function tion is part of IEEE 1003.1-2001 and was first implemented in Mac OS X 10.2. BSD June 9, 1993 BSD |