madvise — 2 Technical Articles

Aug 2, 2025 · Fundamentals

Why Convert madvise MADV_DONTNEED/FREE to Per‑VMA Locks to Eliminate mmap_lock Contention

The article explains how replacing the global mmap_lock read lock with per‑VMA locks for madvise MADV_DONTNEED/FREE removes severe lock contention and priority inversion in Linux memory management, and it details the patches, reasoning, and performance evidence supporting the change.

Linux kernellock contentionmadvise

0 likes · 6 min read

Why Convert madvise MADV_DONTNEED/FREE to Per‑VMA Locks to Eliminate mmap_lock Contention

MaGe Linux Operations

Feb 7, 2022 · Backend Development

How Go 1.16 Uses madvise to Release Memory and Reduce RSS

This article explains Go 1.16's madvise integration, detailing the MADV_DONTNEED and MADV_FREE options, their impact on physical memory release, RSS reduction, and the underlying mmap-based heap allocation with code examples.

LinuxRSSmadvise

0 likes · 5 min read

Why Convert madvise MADV_DONTNEED/FREE to Per‑VMA Locks to Eliminate mmap_lock Contention

How Go 1.16 Uses madvise to Release Memory and Reduce RSS

Why Convert madvise MADV_DONTNEED/FREE to Per‑VMA Locks to Eliminate mmap_lock Contention