Documentation about PAT related interfaces, intended usage and memory attribute relationship. Signed-off-by: Venkatesh Pallipadi Signed-off-by: Suresh Siddha Index: linux-2.6-x86.git/Documentation/x86/pat.txt =================================================================== --- /dev/null 1970-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 +0000 +++ linux-2.6-x86.git/Documentation/x86/pat.txt 2008-03-17 05:05:53.000000000 -0700 @@ -0,0 +1,100 @@ + +PAT (Page Attribute Table) + +x86 Page Attribute Table (PAT) allows for setting the memory attribute at the +page level granularity. PAT is complementary to the MTRR settings which allows +for setting of memory types over physical address ranges. However, PAT is +more flexible than MTRR due to its capability to set attributes at page level +and also due to the fact that there are no hardware limitations on number of +such attribute settings allowed. Added flexibility comes with guidelines for +not having memory type aliasing for the same physical memory with multiple +virtual addresses. + +PAT allows for different types of memory attributes. The most commonly used +ones that will be supported at this time are Write-back, Uncached, +Write-combined and Uncached Minus. + +There are many different APIs in the kernel that allows setting of memory +attributes at the page level. In order to avoid aliasing, these interfaces +should be used thoughtfully. Below is a table of interfaces available, +their intended usage and their memory attribute relationships. Internally, +these APIs use a reserve_memtype()/free_memtype() interface on the physical +address range to avoid any aliasing. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------- +API | RAM | ACPI,... | Reserved/Holes | +-----------------------|----------|------------|------------------| + | | | | +ioremap | -- | UC | UC | + | | | | +ioremap_cache | -- | WB | WB | + | | | | +ioremap_nocache | -- | UC | UC | + | | | | +ioremap_wc | -- | -- | WC | + | | | | +set_memory_uc | UC | -- | -- | + set_memory_wb | | | | + | | | | +set_memory_wc | WC | -- | -- | + set_memory_wb | | | | + | | | | +pci sysfs resource | -- | -- | UC | + | | | | +pci sysfs resource_wc | -- | -- | WC | + is IORESOURCE_PREFETCH| | | | + | | | | +pci proc | -- | -- | UC | + !PCIIOC_WRITE_COMBINE | | | | + | | | | +pci proc | -- | -- | WC | + PCIIOC_WRITE_COMBINE | | | | + | | | | +/dev/mem | -- | UC | UC | + read-write | | | | + | | | | +/dev/mem | -- | UC | UC | + mmap SYNC flag | | | | + | | | | +/dev/mem | -- | WB/WC/UC | WB/WC/UC | + mmap !SYNC flag | |(from exist-| (from exist- | + and | | ing alias)| ing alias) | + any alias to this area| | | | + | | | | +/dev/mem | -- | WB | WB | + mmap !SYNC flag | | | | + no alias to this area | | | | + and | | | | + MTRR says WB | | | | + | | | | +/dev/mem | -- | -- | UC_MINUS | + mmap !SYNC flag | | | | + no alias to this area | | | | + and | | | | + MTRR says !WB | | | | + | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Notes: + +-- in the above table mean "Not suggested usage for the API". Some of the --'s +are strictly enforced by the kernel. Some others are not really enforced +today, but may be enforced in future. + +For ioremap and pci access through /sys or /proc - The actual type returned +can be more restrictive, in case of any existing aliasing for that address. +For example: If there is an existing uncached mapping, a new ioremap_wc can +return uncached mapping in place of write-combine requested. + +set_memory_[uc|wc] and set_memory_wb should be used in pairs, where driver will +first make a region uc or wc and switch it back to wb after use. + +Over time writes to /proc/mtrr will be deprecated in favor of using PAT based +interfaces. Users writing to /proc/mtrr are suggested to use above interfaces. + +Drivers should use ioremap_[uc|wc] to access PCI BARs with [uc|wc] access +types. + +Drivers should use set_memory_[uc|wc] to set access type for RAM ranges. + -- -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/