History log of /linux-master/include/net/netmem.h
Revision Date Author Comments
# 18ddbf5c 14-Feb-2024 Mina Almasry <almasrymina@google.com>

net: introduce abstraction for network memory

Add the netmem_ref type, an abstraction for network memory.

To add support for new memory types to the net stack, we must first
abstract the current memory type. Currently parts of the net stack
use struct page directly:

- page_pool
- drivers
- skb_frag_t

Originally the plan was to reuse struct page* for the new memory types,
and to set the LSB on the page* to indicate it's not really a page.
However, for compiler type checking we need to introduce a new type.

netmem_ref is introduced to abstract the underlying memory type.
Currently it's a no-op abstraction that is always a struct page
underneath. In parallel there is an undergoing effort to add support
for devmem to the net stack:

https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20231208005250.2910004-1-almasrymina@google.com/

netmem_ref can be pointers to different underlying memory types, and the
low bits are set to indicate the memory type. Helpers are provided
to convert netmem pointers to the underlying memory type (currently only
struct page). In the devmem series helpers are provided so that calling
code can use netmem without worrying about the underlying memory type
unless absolutely necessary.

Reviewed-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeelb@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Mina Almasry <almasrymina@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>