xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/sys/madvise.2 (revision 2b0358df1d88d06ef4139321dd05bd5e05d91eaf)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: madvise.2,v 1.14 2007/05/31 19:19:32 jmc Exp $
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31.\"	@(#)madvise.2	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/9/93
32.\"
33.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
34.Dt MADVISE 2
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm madvise
38.Nd give advice about use of memory
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
41.Fd #include <sys/mman.h>
42.Ft int
43.Fn madvise "void *addr" "size_t len" "int behav"
44.Sh DESCRIPTION
45The
46.Fn madvise
47system call
48allows a process that has knowledge of its memory behavior
49to describe it to the system.
50The possible behaviors are:
51.Bl -tag -width MADV_SEQUENTIAL
52.It Dv MADV_NORMAL
53No further special treatment needed.
54.It Dv MADV_RANDOM
55Expect random page access patterns.
56.It Dv MADV_SEQUENTIAL
57Expect sequential page references.
58.It Dv MADV_WILLNEED
59The pages will be referenced soon.
60.It Dv MADV_DONTNEED
61The pages will not be referenced soon.
62.It Dv MADV_SPACEAVAIL
63Ensure that resources are reserved.
64.It Dv MADV_FREE
65The pages don't contain any useful data and can be recycled.
66.El
67.Sh RETURN VALUES
68Upon successful completion,
69a value of 0 is returned.
70Otherwise, a value of \-1 is returned and
71.Va errno
72is set to indicate the error.
73.Sh SEE ALSO
74.Xr mincore 2 ,
75.Xr minherit 2 ,
76.Xr mprotect 2 ,
77.Xr msync 2 ,
78.Xr munmap 2
79.Sh HISTORY
80The
81.Nm madvise
82function first appeared in
83.Bx 4.4 .
84