free_pgd_range(9)

💅 free_pgd_range(9) — kernel API manual, bestie edition 🎀

okay so real talk: this one lives in the kernel API manual, section 9, and it's genuinely one of those "quiet but crucial" little functions. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

free_pgd_range — literally unmaps and frees page tables across a range. that's the whole vibe. 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void free_pgd_range (struct mmu_gather *tlb , unsigned long addr ,
       unsigned long end , unsigned long floor , unsigned long ceiling );

like yes she takes five args and returns nothing, she's a void icon, we stan. 👑

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💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• tlb — the mmu_gather that's holding onto all the pending TLB flush info. she's the bag, she's carrying the receipts. 👜
• addr — virtual address start. where the party begins.
• end — virtual address end. where the party stops (exclusive-ish energy, see below).
• floor — lowest address boundary. the floor, literally, don't go below it. 🧚
• ceiling — highest address boundary. look up. that's the limit. ✨

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so what does she actually do? this function tears down all the user-level page tables sitting inside the virtual address range [addr..end). all of them. not a vibe check, an actual teardown. 💀

she's part of the memory unmap flow — like, the whole "we're getting rid of this memory, tidy up the page tables behind us" machine. 🧹

note the range is [addr..end) — that's half-open, so addr is in, end is out. the way that end is not included? iconic. 🙈

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

kernel file ./mm/memory.c, plus this absolutely stacked cast of characters, all in section 9:

• free_pgtables(9), __vm_normal_page(9), vm_normal_page(9)
• vm_normal_folio(9), vm_normal_page_pmd(9), vm_normal_folio_pmd(9)
• vm_normal_page_pud(9), restore_exclusive_pte(9), cond_install_uffd_wp_ptes(9)
• zap_vma_for_reaping(9), unmap_vmas(9), zap_vma_range_batched(9)
• zap_vma_range(9), zap_special_vma_range(9)
• vm_insert_pages(9), vm_insert_page(9), vm_map_pages(9), vm_map_pages_zero(9)
• vmf_insert_pfn_prot(9), vmf_insert_pfn(9), remap_pfn_range(9), vm_iomap_memory(9)
• __vmf_anon_prepare(9), finish_mkwrite_fault(9)
• unmap_mapping_folio(9), unmap_mapping_pages(9), unmap_mapping_range(9)
• set_pte_range(9), finish_fault(9), mm_account_fault(9)
• follow_pfnmap_start(9), follow_pfnmap_end(9), generic_access_phys(9)
• access_remote_vm(9), copy_remote_vm_str(9), folio_zero_user(9)

iykyk. go read them all, bestie, they're all in ./mm/memory.c territory. 🫶

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okay that's the whole page!! this cutie ships from source ./mm, dated October 2026, and she lives in the Kernel API Manual, section 9. mwah, go free some page tables responsibly 💜⭐🍓