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BSD syscall#75

svc · unix #75

madvise

Hints to the kernel about expected access patterns for a range of mapped pages.

Prototype

int madvise(caddr_ut addr, size_ut len, int behav);

Returns: int

Arguments

NameTypeDirDescription
addrcaddr_ut-
lensize_ut-
behavint-

Version history

XNU tagmacOS#
xnu-1456.1.26macOS 10.6 Snow Leopard75
xnu-1699.24.8macOS 10.7 Lion75
xnu-2050.18.24macOS 10.8 Mountain Lion75
xnu-2422.115.4macOS 10.9 Mavericks75
xnu-2782.40.9macOS 10.10 Yosemite75
xnu-3247.1.106macOS 10.11 El Capitan75
xnu-3789.1.32macOS 10.12 Sierra75
xnu-4570.1.46macOS 10.13 High Sierra75
xnu-4903.221.2macOS 10.14 Mojave75
xnu-6153.11.26macOS 10.15 Catalina75
xnu-7195.50.7.100.1macOS 11.0 Big Sur75
xnu-8019.41.5macOS 12.0 Monterey75
xnu-8792.41.9macOS 13.0 Ventura75
xnu-10002.1.13macOS 14.0 Sonoma75
xnu-11215.1.10macOS 15.0 Sequoia75
xnu-11417.101.15macOS 15.4 Sequoia75
xnu-12377.1.9macOS 26.0 Tahoe75
xnu-10002.41.9—75
xnu-10002.61.3—75
xnu-10002.81.5—75
xnu-10063.101.15—75
xnu-10063.121.3—75
xnu-10063.141.1—75
xnu-11215.41.3—75
xnu-11215.61.5—75
xnu-11215.81.4—75
xnu-11417.121.6—75
xnu-11417.140.69—75
xnu-12377.101.15—75
xnu-12377.41.6—75
xnu-12377.61.12—75
xnu-12377.81.4—75
xnu-1486.2.11—75
xnu-1504.15.3—75
xnu-1504.3.12—75
xnu-1504.7.4—75
xnu-1504.9.17—75
xnu-1504.9.26—75
xnu-1504.9.37—75
xnu-1699.22.73—75
xnu-1699.22.81—75
xnu-1699.24.23—75
xnu-1699.26.8—75
xnu-1699.32.7—75
xnu-2050.22.13—75
xnu-2050.24.15—75
xnu-2050.48.11—75
xnu-2050.7.9—75
xnu-2050.9.2—75
xnu-2422.1.72—75
xnu-2422.100.13—75
xnu-2422.110.17—75
xnu-2422.90.20—75
xnu-2782.1.97—75
xnu-2782.10.72—75
xnu-2782.20.48—75
xnu-2782.30.5—75
xnu-3247.10.11—75
xnu-3248.20.55—75
xnu-3248.30.4—75
xnu-3248.40.184—75
xnu-3248.50.21—75
xnu-3248.60.10—75
xnu-3789.21.4—75
xnu-3789.31.2—75
xnu-3789.41.3—75
xnu-3789.51.2—75
xnu-3789.60.24—75
xnu-3789.70.16—75
xnu-4570.20.62—75
xnu-4570.31.3—75
xnu-4570.41.2—75
xnu-4570.51.1—75
xnu-4570.61.1—75
xnu-4570.71.2—75
xnu-4903.231.4—75
xnu-4903.241.1—75
xnu-4903.270.47—75
xnu-6153.101.6—75
xnu-6153.121.1—75
xnu-6153.141.1—75
xnu-6153.41.3—75
xnu-6153.61.1—75
xnu-6153.81.5—75
xnu-7195.101.1—75
xnu-7195.121.3—75
xnu-7195.141.2—75
xnu-7195.60.75—75
xnu-7195.81.3—75
xnu-8019.61.5—75
xnu-8019.80.24—75
xnu-8020.101.4—75
xnu-8020.121.3—75
xnu-8020.140.41—75
xnu-8792.61.2—75
xnu-8792.81.2—75
xnu-8796.101.5—75
xnu-8796.121.2—75
xnu-8796.141.3—75

Examples

C — drop a cache range

madvise(buf, len, MADV_FREE_REUSABLE);

Notes

macOS supports the POSIX advices (MADV_NORMAL, MADV_SEQUENTIAL, MADV_RANDOM, MADV_WILLNEED, MADV_DONTNEED) and the Darwin-specific MADV_FREE / MADV_FREE_REUSABLE / MADV_FREE_REUSE used by libmalloc to return clean pages to the system without giving up the VA range. MADV_ZERO_WIRED_PAGES is reserved for the kernel and rejected from userspace.

Detection

No Endpoint Security event covers madvise. DTrace's syscall::madvise:entry surfaces the advice constant and range, and Instruments' VM Tracker shows the resulting state transitions of nanozone pages.

Related APIs

mmapmunmapposix_madvisemincorevm_behavior_set