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mm/Kconfig: update "Memory Model" help text
The help describing the memory model selection is outdated. It still says that SPARSEMEM is experimental and DISCONTIGMEM is a preferred over SPARSEMEM. Update the help text for the relevant options: * add a generic help for the "Memory Model" prompt * add description for FLATMEM * reduce the description of DISCONTIGMEM and add a deprecation note * prefer SPARSEMEM over DISCONTIGMEM Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1556188531-20728-1-git-send-email-rppt@linux.ibm.com Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport <rppt@linux.ibm.com> Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
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mm/Kconfig

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Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -11,23 +11,24 @@ choice
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default DISCONTIGMEM_MANUAL if ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_DEFAULT
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default SPARSEMEM_MANUAL if ARCH_SPARSEMEM_DEFAULT
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default FLATMEM_MANUAL
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help
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This option allows you to change some of the ways that
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Linux manages its memory internally. Most users will
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only have one option here selected by the architecture
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configuration. This is normal.
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config FLATMEM_MANUAL
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bool "Flat Memory"
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depends on !(ARCH_DISCONTIGMEM_ENABLE || ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE) || ARCH_FLATMEM_ENABLE
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help
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This option allows you to change some of the ways that
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Linux manages its memory internally. Most users will
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only have one option here: FLATMEM. This is normal
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and a correct option.
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Some users of more advanced features like NUMA and
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memory hotplug may have different options here.
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DISCONTIGMEM is a more mature, better tested system,
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but is incompatible with memory hotplug and may suffer
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decreased performance over SPARSEMEM. If unsure between
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"Sparse Memory" and "Discontiguous Memory", choose
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"Discontiguous Memory".
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This option is best suited for non-NUMA systems with
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flat address space. The FLATMEM is the most efficient
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system in terms of performance and resource consumption
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and it is the best option for smaller systems.
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For systems that have holes in their physical address
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spaces and for features like NUMA and memory hotplug,
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choose "Sparse Memory"
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If unsure, choose this option (Flat Memory) over any other.
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@@ -38,29 +39,26 @@ config DISCONTIGMEM_MANUAL
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This option provides enhanced support for discontiguous
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memory systems, over FLATMEM. These systems have holes
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in their physical address spaces, and this option provides
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more efficient handling of these holes. However, the vast
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majority of hardware has quite flat address spaces, and
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can have degraded performance from the extra overhead that
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this option imposes.
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more efficient handling of these holes.
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Many NUMA configurations will have this as the only option.
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Although "Discontiguous Memory" is still used by several
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architectures, it is considered deprecated in favor of
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"Sparse Memory".
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If unsure, choose "Flat Memory" over this option.
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If unsure, choose "Sparse Memory" over this option.
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config SPARSEMEM_MANUAL
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bool "Sparse Memory"
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depends on ARCH_SPARSEMEM_ENABLE
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help
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This will be the only option for some systems, including
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memory hotplug systems. This is normal.
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memory hot-plug systems. This is normal.
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For many other systems, this will be an alternative to
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"Discontiguous Memory". This option provides some potential
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performance benefits, along with decreased code complexity,
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but it is newer, and more experimental.
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This option provides efficient support for systems with
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holes is their physical address space and allows memory
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hot-plug and hot-remove.
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If unsure, choose "Discontiguous Memory" or "Flat Memory"
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over this option.
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If unsure, choose "Flat Memory" over this option.
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endchoice
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