PMAP_RELEASE(9)

🎀 PMAP_RELEASE — kernel dev manual, bestie edition 🎀

okay so this is PMAP_RELEASE(9), from the Kernel Developer's Manual, and it's literally one of those tiny pages that does exactly one thing and does it flawlessly. no cap. let's get into it 💖

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✨ NAME ✨

pmap_release — release resources held by a physical map

like. that's it. that's the whole job. it lets go of stuff 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

first you gotta pull in the headers, obviously:

#include <sys/param.h>
#include <vm/vm.h>
#include <vm/pmap.h>

then the function itself, and she's giving absolutely no return value:

void
pmap_release(pmap_t pmap);

void return type, one argument, zero drama. main character energy tbh 👑

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so pmap_release() releases any resources held by the physical map pmap. like, all of them. everything she was holding? gone. freed. bye 💅

here's the lore tho: this function gets called when a pmap that was set up by the corresponding function, pmap_pinit(), is being released. so it's a matched set — pmap_pinit() builds it up, pmap_release() takes it all apart. they're a duo, fr fr. you don't call one without the other having done its thing 🦋

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✨ IMPLEMENTATION NOTES ✨

⚠️ bestie. listen. this is important. this function should only be called if pmap no longer contains any valid mappings. that's not a suggestion, that's the rule. if there's still valid mappings chilling in there when you call this, you're not releasing a pmap, you're releasing a problem 😭

so: mappings cleared out first, then pmap_release(). order matters. periodt ✨

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✨ SEE ALSO ✨

• pmap(9) — the big one, go read her too
• pmap_pinit(9) — the other half of the duo, the one that sets things up 🌸

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✨ AUTHORS ✨

this manual page was written by Bruce M Simpson <bms@spc.org>. thank you king, we appreciate you 🫶💜

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and that's the whole page!! short, sweet, extremely to the point. it's giving "one job, done correctly." obsessed. 🌈⭐

okay bye bestie — this one came from the Debian edition, dated July 21, 2003 (yes, she's vintage, and she's still iconic 💖👑). mwah 💅✨