cma_alloc(9)

💖 cma_alloc(9) — Kernel API Manual 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to cma_alloc(9), brought to you by the Linux Kernel API Manual. this one's short, sweet, and honestly kind of a big deal if you're into contiguous memory. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

cma_alloc — allocate pages from contiguous area

like, it grabs you pages. from the contiguous area. that's the whole vibe 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

struct page * cma_alloc (struct cma *cma , unsigned long count ,
       unsigned int align , bool no_warn );

four args, one struct page * back. she's typed, she's precise, she ate 🔥

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• cma — the contiguous memory region you're doing the allocation for. this is where the whole thing happens, no cap 💜
• count — how many pages you're asking for. this is the requested number of pages, so like, be honest with yourself about how many you actually need 👑
• align — the alignment you want for those pages, and it's measured in PAGE_SIZE order. so it's an unsigned int, and yes bestie, the order thing matters 🙈
• no_warn — a bool, and honestly it's the politeness switch. set it and you avoid printing a message about the failed allocation. no drama, no log spam, just quiet disappointment 💀

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so what does she actually do? cma_alloc allocates part of contiguous memory on a specific contiguous memory area. that's it. that's the whole function. main character energy, minimal words 🌈

it's giving "I pick a chunk out of the contiguous region you handed me and I give it to you." lowkey iconic.

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• Kernel file ./mm/cma.c
• cma_init_reserved_mem(9)
• cma_declare_contiguous_nid(9)
• cma_release(9)

go read cma_release(9) after this one, iykyk — you gotta give the pages back eventually 🧚

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mwah, that's the whole page! this little beauty comes courtesy of the ./mm source tree, dated October 2026, and it's filed under cma_alloc(9) in the Kernel API Manual. go forth and allocate contiguously, bestie 💖🎀✨