Re: [PATCH] add /proc/*/pmap files

[Albert Cahalan <acahalan@gmail.com>]

On 1/22/06, Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org> wrote:
> Arjan van de Ven <arjan@infradead.org> wrote:
> >
> >  you're making a NEW file
>
> One which, afaict, contains the same thing as /proc/pid/smaps only in a
> different format.  If there's a point to this patch, we weren't told what
> it is.

First of all, it isn't just the same. I need to know if
memory is locked or not. I need to know the page size.

Second of all, smaps is surely a parody of bad file
format design. When I first heard of the patch, I was
certain that it would be rejected for that reason.
At the time I was to sick and busy to even comment
on the matter. It was with shock and horror that I
later found the patch in the kernel.

I can't just fix smaps now, because that would break
a rotten ABI. Patching it out should work OK though,
because it is recent enough that apps will still support
kernels without it. I would have done so with this patch,
but you supposedly don't care for big patches.