pin_user_pages_remote(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 pin_user_pages_remote — like, the kernel manual page, bestie 💖

okay so real talk, this one lives in the Kernel API Manual section (section 9, kernel devs only, iykyk) and it's literally about pinning down pages of a remote process. no cap. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

pin_user_pages_remote — pin pages of a remote process 🌸

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

long pin_user_pages_remote (struct mm_struct *mm , unsigned long start ,
       unsigned long nr_pages , unsigned int gup_flags , struct page **pages ,
       int *locked );

like, that's the whole vibe. six args, all business 💅

🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

  • mm — the mm_struct of the target mm. this is the process whose pages you're about to be obsessed with ✨
  • start — starting user address. where the whole thing kicks off, fr.
  • nr_pages — number of pages from start to pin. counting starts now bestie 🔥
  • gup_flags — flags that modify lookup behaviour. the lil knobs and dials 🎛️
  • pages — the array that receives pointers to the pages pinned. should be at least nr_pages long. at least, so don't come in short, it's giving underprepared 😭
  • locked — pointer to the lock flag, indicating whether the lock is held and subsequently whether VM_FAULT_RETRY functionality can be utilised. the lock must initially be held. main character constraint, periodt 👑

⭐ DESCRIPTION ⭐

Nearly the same as get_user_pages_remote, except that FOLL_PIN is set. that's the whole plot twist ✨ go read get_user_pages_remote for the documentation on the function arguments, because the arguments here are identical. same energy, different function, iykyk.

FOLL_PIN means the pages must be released via unpin_user_page. no leaving them pinned and ghosting them, that's so toxic 💀 please see Documentation/core-api/pin_user_pages.rst for details — it's all in there, go read it, it ate 💖

note that if a zero_page is amongst the returned pages, it will not have pins in it, and unpin_user_page*() will not remove pins from it. so like... don't go unpinning what was never pinned, bestie 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

kernel file ./mm/gup.c — and honestly the whole extended friend group:

and that's the whole page, bestie, no crumbs left 💅

this absolute icon comes from ./mm in the Kernel API Manual, dated October 2026 — so like, freshly stamped, go forth and pin responsibly 🧚‍♀️💜✨

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