ALLOC_VM_AREA(9) Memory Management in Linux ALLOC_VM_AREA(9)

NAME alloc_vm_area - allocate a range of kernel address space

SYNOPSIS struct vm_struct * alloc_vm_area(size_t size);

ARGUMENTS size size of the area

RETURNS NULL on failure, vm_struct on success

This function reserves a range of kernel address space, and allocates pagetables to map that range. No actual mappings are created. If the kernel address space is not shared between processes, it syncs the pagetable across all processes.