Newsgroups: comp.arch
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Variable page size
Message-ID: <1989Sep30.054202.14063@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <6524@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 89 05:42:02 GMT

In article <6524@ttidca.TTI.COM> b-jones@ttidca.tti.com (Bill Jones) writes:
>What advantage does a program gain by using a page size that's greater
>than the hardware's physical page size?

Well, usually it's the kernel, not a specific program, that's involved.
The main reason for the kernel to use a larger page size is that various
forms of overhead occur on a per-page basis.  A larger page size wastes
a bit of memory but can greatly reduce overhead.

A not-insignificant side issue is that it can be very convenient if the
size of the memory pages matches the quantum of disk allocation in the
file system.
-- 
"Where is D.D. Harriman now,   |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
when we really *need* him?"    | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu