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.TH "__KMALLOC" "9" "09 October 2005" "" ""

.SH NAME
__kmalloc \- allocate memory
.SH SYNOPSIS
"SYNOPSIS"
.sp
\fB
.sp
void * __kmalloc  (size_t \fIsize\fB, unsigned int __nocast \fIflags\fB);
\fR
.SH "ARGUMENTS"
.TP
\fB\fIsize\fB\fR
how many bytes of memory are required.
.TP
\fB\fIflags\fB\fR
the type of memory to allocate.
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
kmalloc is the normal method of allocating memory
in the kernel.
.PP
The \fIflags\fR argument may be one of:
.PP
GFP_USER - Allocate memory on behalf of user.  May sleep.
.PP
GFP_KERNEL - Allocate normal kernel ram.  May sleep.
.PP
GFP_ATOMIC - Allocation will not sleep.  Use inside interrupt handlers.
.PP
Additionally, the GFP_DMA flag may be set to indicate the memory
must be suitable for DMA.  This can mean different things on different
platforms.  For example, on i386, it means that the memory must come
from the first 16MB.