On Tue, Jun 03, 2008 at 05:53:22PM +0200, Vegard Nossum wrote:
quoted text
> On 6/3/08, akpm@linux-foundation.org <akpm@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
> >
> >  The patch titled
> >      x86: implement pte_special
> >  has been added to the -mm tree.  Its filename is
> >      x86-implement-pte_special.patch
> 
> ...
> 
> >  ------------------------------------------------------
> >  Subject: x86: implement pte_special
> >  From: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
> >
> >  Implement the pte_special bit for x86.  This is required to support
> >  lockless get_user_pages, because we need to know whether or not we can
> >  refcount a particular page given only its pte (and no vma).
> 
> Wait... what the heck is a "special" page? Isn't that a terrible name
> for _anything_? Or is there a tradition to the name? It sounds like it
> should be named "novma" or "autonomous" or something instead.
> Something that carries at least a little more information than
> "special". Where can I find the documentation for this bit?

It's the logical opposite of a "normal" page.

 
quoted text
> Has this been discussed on LKML? Is the name a result of consensus or whim?

It has been posted many times.

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