pud_alloc_one(9)

💅 pud_alloc_one(9) — like, the whole glow-up guide

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual ✨ this one's about pud_alloc_one, and yes it's exactly as niche and iconic as it sounds 🎀

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🌸 NAME 🌸

pud_alloc_one — allocate memory for a PUD-level page table 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

pud_t * pud_alloc_one (struct mm_struct *mm , unsigned long addr );

that's it. that's the whole vibe. two args, one pointer back 💫

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• mm — the mm_struct of the current context. like, whose memory world are we doing this for 👀
• addr — okay so the manpage literally says -- undescribed -- and ngl that's sending me 😭 the docs just. didn't. describe it. so i'm not gonna invent lore for it either, no cap. that's what the page says, that's what you get 🙈

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the whole point is: allocate memory for a page table 🔥

the way it decides which flag to use is genuinely the main character moment here:

• for user context it uses GFP_PGTABLE_USER
• for kernel context it uses GFP_PGTABLE_KERNEL

that's the entire description. short, sweet, slays 💅

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🌈 RETURN 🌈

• a pointer to the allocated memory ✨
• or NULL on error 💀 (yes, you have to check it. always check it.)

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• Kernel file ./include/asm-generic/pgalloc.h
• __pte_alloc_one_kernel(9)
• pte_alloc_one_kernel(9)
• pte_free_kernel(9)
• __pte_alloc_one(9)
• pte_alloc_one(9)
• pte_free(9)
• pmd_alloc_one(9)

go read the whole pgalloc cinematic universe, iykyk 🍓

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fr fr bestie: the return value can be NULL, and that's not a vibe check you get to skip 😤 check it.

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okay that's the page!! 🧚 source: ./include/asm-generic, from October 2026 💜 mwah, love u, go allocate responsibly 👑✨