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This article explains the role, operation, and different modes of x86‑64 memory paging, describes how page directories and tables are set up in assembly, shows the relevant control‑register bits, and provides practical code examples for enabling and managing paging in a protected‑mode kernel.
This article explains Linux's paging mechanism, covering the basics of virtual memory, page tables, multi‑level paging structures, virtual memory layout, allocation and reclamation strategies, and the performance and security benefits that paging brings to modern operating systems.
Memory paging, a core memory‑management technique used in modern operating systems and x86‑64 processors, divides physical memory into fixed‑size pages, enabling virtual memory, isolation, sharing, lazy loading, and protection, while the article explains page tables, hierarchical paging modes, and provides assembly code for enabling paging.
The article explains Linux kernel reverse‑mapping (RMAP), describing its purpose for efficient page‑reclaim, the underlying data structures such as vm_area_struct, anon_vma and anon_vma_chain, and shows how anonymous and file pages are tracked and unmapped through detailed code examples.
The article explains how modern computers use fast SRAM caches (L1‑L3) inside the CPU with various mapping schemes and the MESI coherence protocol to keep data consistent, while DRAM serves as main memory, and virtual memory with multi‑level page tables and a TLB abstracts physical memory, provides isolation, and enables swapping.
This article explains the copy‑on‑write mechanism in Linux by examining page‑table structures, the fork process, and the page‑fault handling code in Linux 0.11, illustrating how the kernel uses read‑only page mappings and page‑fault interrupts to lazily duplicate memory pages.