[net-next-2.6.git] / Documentation / filesystems / xip.txt

Execute-in-place for file mappings
----------------------------------

Motivation
----------
File mappings are performed by mapping page cache pages to userspace. In
addition, read&write type file operations also transfer data from/to the page
cache.

For memory backed storage devices that use the block device interface, the page
cache pages are in fact copies of the original storage. Various approaches
exist to work around the need for an extra copy. The ramdisk driver for example
does read the data into the page cache, keeps a reference, and discards the
original data behind later on.

Execute-in-place solves this issue the other way around: instead of keeping
data in the page cache, the need to have a page cache copy is eliminated
completely. With execute-in-place, read&write type operations are performed
directly from/to the memory backed storage device. For file mappings, the
storage device itself is mapped directly into userspace.

This implementation was initially written for shared memory segments between
different virtual machines on s390 hardware to allow multiple machines to
share the same binaries and libraries.

Implementation
--------------
Execute-in-place is implemented in three steps: block device operation,
address space operation, and file operations.

A block device operation named direct_access is used to retrieve a
reference (pointer) to a block on-disk. The reference is supposed to be
cpu-addressable, physical address and remain valid until the release operation
is performed. A struct block_device reference is used to address the device,
and a sector_t argument is used to identify the individual block. As an
alternative, memory technology devices can be used for this.

The block device operation is optional, these block devices support it as of
today:
- dcssblk: s390 dcss block device driver

An address space operation named get_xip_mem is used to retrieve references
to a page frame number and a kernel address. To obtain these values a reference
to an address_space is provided. This function assigns values to the kmem and
pfn parameters. The third argument indicates whether the function should allocate
blocks if needed.

This address space operation is mutually exclusive with readpage&writepage that
do page cache read/write operations.
The following filesystems support it as of today:
- ext2: the second extended filesystem, see Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt

A set of file operations that do utilize get_xip_page can be found in
mm/filemap_xip.c . The following file operation implementations are provided:
- aio_read/aio_write
- readv/writev
- sendfile

The generic file operations do_sync_read/do_sync_write can be used to implement
classic synchronous IO calls.

Shortcomings
------------
This implementation is limited to storage devices that are cpu addressable at
all times (no highmem or such). It works well on rom/ram, but enhancements are
needed to make it work with flash in read+write mode.
Putting the Linux kernel and/or its modules on a xip filesystem does not mean
they are not copied.
Commit	Line	Data
d763b7a4 CO	1	Execute-in-place for file mappings
	2	----------------------------------
	3
	4	Motivation
	5	----------
	6	File mappings are performed by mapping page cache pages to userspace. In
	7	addition, read&write type file operations also transfer data from/to the page
	8	cache.
	9
	10	For memory backed storage devices that use the block device interface, the page
	11	cache pages are in fact copies of the original storage. Various approaches
	12	exist to work around the need for an extra copy. The ramdisk driver for example
	13	does read the data into the page cache, keeps a reference, and discards the
	14	original data behind later on.
	15
	16	Execute-in-place solves this issue the other way around: instead of keeping
	17	data in the page cache, the need to have a page cache copy is eliminated
	18	completely. With execute-in-place, read&write type operations are performed
	19	directly from/to the memory backed storage device. For file mappings, the
	20	storage device itself is mapped directly into userspace.
	21
a982ac06	22	This implementation was initially written for shared memory segments between
d763b7a4 CO	23	different virtual machines on s390 hardware to allow multiple machines to
	24	share the same binaries and libraries.
	25
	26	Implementation
	27	--------------
	28	Execute-in-place is implemented in three steps: block device operation,
	29	address space operation, and file operations.
	30
	31	A block device operation named direct_access is used to retrieve a
	32	reference (pointer) to a block on-disk. The reference is supposed to be
	33	cpu-addressable, physical address and remain valid until the release operation
	34	is performed. A struct block_device reference is used to address the device,
	35	and a sector_t argument is used to identify the individual block. As an
	36	alternative, memory technology devices can be used for this.
	37
	38	The block device operation is optional, these block devices support it as of
	39	today:
	40	- dcssblk: s390 dcss block device driver
	41
084c3049 MS	42	An address space operation named get_xip_mem is used to retrieve references
	43	to a page frame number and a kernel address. To obtain these values a reference
	44	to an address_space is provided. This function assigns values to the kmem and
	45	pfn parameters. The third argument indicates whether the function should allocate
	46	blocks if needed.
d763b7a4 CO	47
	48	This address space operation is mutually exclusive with readpage&writepage that
	49	do page cache read/write operations.
	50	The following filesystems support it as of today:
	51	- ext2: the second extended filesystem, see Documentation/filesystems/ext2.txt
	52
	53	A set of file operations that do utilize get_xip_page can be found in
	54	mm/filemap_xip.c . The following file operation implementations are provided:
	55	- aio_read/aio_write
	56	- readv/writev
	57	- sendfile
	58
	59	The generic file operations do_sync_read/do_sync_write can be used to implement
	60	classic synchronous IO calls.
	61
	62	Shortcomings
	63	------------
	64	This implementation is limited to storage devices that are cpu addressable at
	65	all times (no highmem or such). It works well on rom/ram, but enhancements are
	66	needed to make it work with flash in read+write mode.
	67	Putting the Linux kernel and/or its modules on a xip filesystem does not mean
	68	they are not copied.