How to get rid of unused data in LKM

Wolfgang Denk wd at denx.de
Thu Jul 25 01:49:09 EST 2002


In message <3D3E91E6.4000500 at esd-electronics.com> you wrote:
>
> I am writing a LKM that contains a huge constant array of data that is used
> as firmware for a PCI card that is connected to the system where the LKM is loaded.
>
> The module_init function writes the constant data array into the PCI card's RAM and triggers
> a CPU on that card to jump to the firmware code. This works fine.

Why don't you load the firmware using some  ioctl()  _after_  loading
the module?

> But after doing so, the firmware data is still wasting kernel memory on the host system
> and is not used anymore.
> How can I free that memory ? Is there a better way to handle that data ?

If you really think you must link the data with the  module:  Declare
it using "__initdata" ?

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd at denx.de
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