wp_pte(9)

💅 wp_pte(9) — the write-protect glow-up bestie edition ✨

okay so real talk, this is a page from the Kernel API Manual and it's about wp_pte, which is genuinely one of those tiny functions that carries the whole squad. come learn her with me 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

wp_pte — write-protect a pte 💅

like, that's the whole vibe. she protects. she writes-not. she's iconic.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

int wp_pte (pte_t *pte , unsigned long addr , unsigned long end , struct
mm_walk *walk );

yes the spacing is a little feral, that's canon, do not touch it 😭

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• pte — Pointer to the pte. that's the actual page table entry getting the write-protect treatment 💖
• addr — The start of protecting virtual address. lowkey where the range begins ✨
• end — The end of protecting virtual address. and this is where the range stops, no cap 🦋
• walk — pagetable walk callback argument. she rides along for the walk, main character energy for sure 👑

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so what does she actually do? The function write-protects a pte and records the range in virtual address space of touched ptes for efficient range TLB flushes. 🔥

like yes, two jobs, and she ate both. the write-protect is the obvious part, but the recording part is the sneaky-genius part — she's keeping receipts of which virtual address ranges got touched so that later the range TLB flushes can be done efficiently instead of one-at-a-time like a loser. so efficient. so considerate. obsessed honestly 🌈

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

• Kernel file ./mm/mapping_dirty_helpers.c — that's her home address, go visit 🏡
• struct wp_walk(9)
• struct clean_walk(9)
• clean_record_pte(9)
• wp_shared_mapping_range(9)
• clean_record_shared_mapping_range(9)

the whole friend group fr fr, they all show up to the same functions 💅🫶

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ngl bestie, wp_pte is called as part of a larger walk thing and she expects her args to make sense — go read the SEE ALSO squad before you go poking at ptEs in your own code, iykyk 💀✨

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okay that's the whole page, no cap 🍓 this came from the ./mm source directory, October 2026 vintage, and it's filed under wp_pte(9) — go forth and write-protect responsibly my love 💖🎀🦋