NAME
mbuf - memory management in the kernel IPC subsystem
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/param.h>
#include <sys/systm.h>
#include <sys/mbuf.h>
Mbuf allocation macros
MGET(struct mbuf *mbuf, int how, short type);
MGETHDR(struct mbuf *mbuf, int how, short type);
MCLGET(struct mbuf *mbuf, int how);
MEXTADD(struct mbuf *mbuf, caddr_t buf, u_int size,
void (*free)(void *opt_arg1, void *opt_arg2), void *opt_arg1,
void *opt_arg2, short flags, int type);
MEXTFREE(struct mbuf *mbuf);
MFREE(struct mbuf *mbuf, struct mbuf *successor);
Mbuf utility macros
mtod(struct mbuf *mbuf, type);
M_ALIGN(struct mbuf *mbuf, u_int len);
MH_ALIGN(struct mbuf *mbuf, u_int len);
int
M_LEADINGSPACE(struct mbuf *mbuf);
int
M_TRAILINGSPACE(struct mbuf *mbuf);
M_MOVE_PKTHDR(struct mbuf *to, struct mbuf *from);
M_PREPEND(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len, int how);
MCHTYPE(struct mbuf *mbuf, u_int type);
int
M_WRITABLE(struct mbuf *mbuf);
Mbuf allocation functions
struct mbuf *
m_get(int how, int type);
struct mbuf *
m_getm(struct mbuf *orig, int len, int how, int type);
struct mbuf *
m_getcl(int how, short type, int flags);
struct mbuf *
m_getclr(int how, int type);
struct mbuf *
m_gethdr(int how, int type);
struct mbuf *
m_free(struct mbuf *mbuf);
void
m_freem(struct mbuf *mbuf);
Mbuf utility functions
void
m_adj(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len);
void
m_align(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len);
int
m_append(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len, c_caddr_t cp);
struct mbuf *
m_prepend(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len, int how);
struct mbuf *
m_copyup(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len, int dstoff);
struct mbuf *
m_pullup(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len);
struct mbuf *
m_pulldown(struct mbuf *mbuf, int offset, int len, int *offsetp);
struct mbuf *
m_copym(struct mbuf *mbuf, int offset, int len, int how);
struct mbuf *
m_copypacket(struct mbuf *mbuf, int how);
struct mbuf *
m_dup(struct mbuf *mbuf, int how);
void
m_copydata(const struct mbuf *mbuf, int offset, int len, caddr_t buf);
void
m_copyback(struct mbuf *mbuf, int offset, int len, caddr_t buf);
struct mbuf *
m_devget(char *buf, int len, int offset, struct ifnet *ifp,
void (*copy)(char *from, caddr_t to, u_int len));
void
m_cat(struct mbuf *m, struct mbuf *n);
u_int
m_fixhdr(struct mbuf *mbuf);
void
m_dup_pkthdr(struct mbuf *to, struct mbuf *from);
void
m_move_pkthdr(struct mbuf *to, struct mbuf *from);
u_int
m_length(struct mbuf *mbuf, struct mbuf **last);
struct mbuf *
m_split(struct mbuf *mbuf, int len, int how);
int
m_apply(struct mbuf *mbuf, int off, int len,
int (*f)(void *arg, void *data, u_int len), void *arg);
struct mbuf *
m_getptr(struct mbuf *mbuf, int loc, int *off);
struct mbuf *
m_defrag(struct mbuf *m0, int how);
struct mbuf *
m_unshare(struct mbuf *m0, int how);
DESCRIPTION
An mbuf is a basic unit of memory management in the kernel IPC subsystem.
Network packets and socket buffers are stored in mbufs. A network packet
may span multiple mbufs arranged into a mbuf chain (linked list), which
allows adding or trimming network headers with little overhead.
While a developer should not bother with mbuf internals without serious
reason in order to avoid incompatibilities with future changes, it is
useful to understand the general structure of an mbuf.
An mbuf consists of a variable-sized header and a small internal buffer
for data. The total size of an mbuf, MSIZE, is a constant defined in The
mbuf header includes:
m_next (struct mbuf *) A pointer to the next mbuf in the mbuf
chain.
m_nextpkt (struct mbuf *) A pointer to the next mbuf chain in the
queue.
m_data (caddr_t) A pointer to data attached to this mbuf.
m_len (int) The length of the data.
m_type (short) The type of the data.
m_flags (int) The mbuf flags.
The mbuf flag bits are defined as follows:
/* mbuf flags */
#define M_EXT 0x0001 /* has associated external storage */
#define M_PKTHDR 0x0002 /* start of record */
#define M_EOR 0x0004 /* end of record */
#define M_RDONLY 0x0008 /* associated data marked read-only */
#define M_PROTO1 0x0010 /* protocol-specific */
#define M_PROTO2 0x0020 /* protocol-specific */
#define M_PROTO3 0x0040 /* protocol-specific */
#define M_PROTO4 0x0080 /* protocol-specific */
#define M_PROTO5 0x0100 /* protocol-specific */
#define M_PROTO6 0x4000 /* protocol-specific (avoid M_BCAST conflict) */
#define M_FREELIST 0x8000 /* mbuf is on the free list */
/* mbuf pkthdr flags (also stored in m_flags) */
#define M_BCAST 0x0200 /* send/received as link-level broadcast */
#define M_MCAST 0x0400 /* send/received as link-level multicast */
#define M_FRAG 0x0800 /* packet is fragment of larger packet */
#define M_FIRSTFRAG 0x1000 /* packet is first fragment */
#define M_LASTFRAG 0x2000 /* packet is last fragment */
The available mbuf types are defined as follows:
/* mbuf types */
#define MT_DATA 1 /* dynamic (data) allocation */
#define MT_HEADER MT_DATA /* packet header */
#define MT_SONAME 8 /* socket name */
#define MT_CONTROL 14 /* extra-data protocol message */
#define MT_OOBDATA 15 /* expedited data */
If the M_PKTHDR flag is set, a struct pkthdr m_pkthdr is added to the
mbuf header. It contains a pointer to the interface the packet has been
received from (struct ifnet *rcvif), and the total packet length (int
len). Optionally, it may also contain an attached list of packet tags
(struct m_tag). See mbuf_tags(9) for details. Fields used in offloading
checksum calculation to the hardware are kept in m_pkthdr as well. See
HARDWARE-ASSISTED CHECKSUM CALCULATION for details.
If small enough, data is stored in the internal data buffer of an mbuf.
If the data is sufficiently large, another mbuf may be added to the mbuf
chain, or external storage may be associated with the mbuf. MHLEN bytes
of data can fit into an mbuf with the M_PKTHDR flag set, MLEN bytes can
otherwise.
If external storage is being associated with an mbuf, the m_ext header is
added at the cost of losing the internal data buffer. It includes a
pointer to external storage, the size of the storage, a pointer to a
function used for freeing the storage, a pointer to an optional argument
that can be passed to the function, and a pointer to a reference counter.
An mbuf using external storage has the M_EXT flag set.
The system supplies a macro for allocating the desired external storage
buffer, MEXTADD.
The allocation and management of the reference counter is handled by the
subsystem.
The system also supplies a default type of external storage buffer called
an mbuf cluster. Mbuf clusters can be allocated and configured with the
use of the MCLGET macro. Each mbuf cluster is MCLBYTES in size, where
MCLBYTES is a machine-dependent constant. The system defines an advisory
macro MINCLSIZE, which is the smallest amount of data to put into an mbuf
cluster. It is equal to the sum of MLEN and MHLEN. It is typically
preferable to store data into the data region of an mbuf, if size
permits, as opposed to allocating a separate mbuf cluster to hold the
same data.
Macros and Functions
There are numerous predefined macros and functions that provide the
developer with common utilities.
mtod(mbuf, type)
Convert an mbuf pointer to a data pointer. The macro expands to
the data pointer cast to the pointer of the specified type. Note:
It is advisable to ensure that there is enough contiguous data in
mbuf. See m_pullup() for details.
MGET(mbuf, how, type)
Allocate an mbuf and initialize it to contain internal data. mbuf
will point to the allocated mbuf on success, or be set to NULL on
failure. The how argument is to be set to M_WAIT or M_DONTWAIT.
It specifies whether the caller is willing to block if necessary.
A number of other functions and macros related to mbufs have the
same argument because they may at some point need to allocate new
mbufs.
Programmers should be careful not to confuse the mbuf allocation
flag M_DONTWAIT with the malloc(9) allocation flag, M_NOWAIT. They
are not the same.
MGETHDR(mbuf, how, type)
Allocate an mbuf and initialize it to contain a packet header and
internal data. See MGET() for details.
MCLGET(mbuf, how)
Allocate and attach an mbuf cluster to mbuf. If the macro fails,
the M_EXT flag will not be set in mbuf.
M_ALIGN(mbuf, len)
Set the pointer mbuf->m_data to place an object of the size len at
the end of the internal data area of mbuf, long word aligned.
Applicable only if mbuf is newly allocated with MGET() or m_get().
MH_ALIGN(mbuf, len)
Serves the same purpose as M_ALIGN() does, but only for mbuf newly
allocated with MGETHDR() or m_gethdr(), or initialized by
m_dup_pkthdr() or m_move_pkthdr().
m_align(mbuf, len)
Services the same purpose as M_ALIGN() but handles any type of
mbuf.
M_LEADINGSPACE(mbuf)
Returns the number of bytes available before the beginning of data
in mbuf.
M_TRAILINGSPACE(mbuf)
Returns the number of bytes available after the end of data in
mbuf.
M_PREPEND(mbuf, len, how)
This macro operates on an mbuf chain. It is an optimized wrapper
for m_prepend() that can make use of possible empty space before
data (e.g. left after trimming of a link-layer header). The new
mbuf chain pointer or NULL is in mbuf after the call.
M_MOVE_PKTHDR(to, from)
Using this macro is equivalent to calling m_move_pkthdr(to, from).
M_WRITABLE(mbuf)
This macro will evaluate true if mbuf is not marked M_RDONLY and if
either mbuf does not contain external storage or, if it does, then
if the reference count of the storage is not greater than 1. The
M_RDONLY flag can be set in mbuf->m_flags. This can be achieved
during setup of the external storage, by passing the M_RDONLY bit
as a flags argument to the MEXTADD() macro, or can be directly set
in individual mbufs.
MCHTYPE(mbuf, type)
Change the type of mbuf to type. This is a relatively expensive
operation and should be avoided.
The functions are:
m_get(how, type)
A function version of MGET() for non-critical paths.
m_getm(orig, len, how, type)
Allocate len bytes worth of mbufs and mbuf clusters if necessary
and append the resulting allocated mbuf chain to the mbuf chain
orig, if it is non-NULL. If the allocation fails at any point,
free whatever was allocated and return NULL. If orig is non-NULL,
it will not be freed. It is possible to use m_getm() to either
append len bytes to an existing mbuf or mbuf chain (for example,
one which may be sitting in a pre-allocated ring) or to simply
perform an all-or-nothing mbuf and mbuf cluster allocation.
m_gethdr(how, type)
A function version of MGETHDR() for non-critical paths.
m_getcl(how, type, flags)
Fetch an mbuf with a mbuf cluster attached to it. If one of the
allocations fails, the entire allocation fails. This routine is
the preferred way of fetching both the mbuf and mbuf cluster
together, as it avoids having to unlock/relock between allocations.
Returns NULL on failure.
m_getclr(how, type)
Allocate an mbuf and zero out the data region.
m_free(mbuf)
Frees mbuf. Returns m_next of the freed mbuf.
The functions below operate on mbuf chains.
m_freem(mbuf)
Free an entire mbuf chain, including any external storage.
m_adj(mbuf, len)
Trim len bytes from the head of an mbuf chain if len is positive,
from the tail otherwise.
m_append(mbuf, len, cp)
Append len bytes of data cp to the mbuf chain. Extend the mbuf
chain if the new data does not fit in existing space.
m_prepend(mbuf, len, how)
Allocate a new mbuf and prepend it to the mbuf chain, handle
M_PKTHDR properly. Note: It does not allocate any mbuf clusters,
so len must be less than MLEN or MHLEN, depending on the M_PKTHDR
flag setting.
m_copyup(mbuf, len, dstoff)
Similar to m_pullup() but copies len bytes of data into a new mbuf
at dstoff bytes into the mbuf. The dstoff argument aligns the data
and leaves room for a link layer header. Returns the new mbuf
chain on success, and frees the mbuf chain and returns NULL on
failure. Note: The function does not allocate mbuf clusters, so
len + dstoff must be less than MHLEN.
m_pullup(mbuf, len)
Arrange that the first len bytes of an mbuf chain are contiguous
and lay in the data area of mbuf, so they are accessible with
mtod(mbuf, type). It is important to remember that this may
involve reallocating some mbufs and moving data so all pointers
referencing data within the old mbuf chain must be recalculated or
made invalid. Return the new mbuf chain on success, NULL on
failure (the mbuf chain is freed in this case). Note: It does not
allocate any mbuf clusters, so len must be less than MHLEN.
m_pulldown(mbuf, offset, len, offsetp)
Arrange that len bytes between offset and offset + len in the mbuf
chain are contiguous and lay in the data area of mbuf, so they are
accessible with mtod(mbuf, type). len must be smaller than, or
equal to, the size of an mbuf cluster. Return a pointer to an
intermediate mbuf in the chain containing the requested region; the
offset in the data region of the mbuf chain to the data contained
in the returned mbuf is stored in *offsetp. If offp is NULL, the
region may be accessed using mtod(mbuf, type). If offp is non-
NULL, the region may be accessed using mtod(mbuf, uint8_t, +,
*offsetp). The region of the mbuf chain between its beginning and
off is not modified, therefore it is safe to hold pointers to data
within this region before calling m_pulldown().
m_copym(mbuf, offset, len, how)
Make a copy of an mbuf chain starting offset bytes from the
beginning, continuing for len bytes. If len is M_COPYALL, copy to
the end of the mbuf chain. Note: The copy is read-only, because
the mbuf clusters are not copied, only their reference counts are
incremented.
m_copypacket(mbuf, how)
Copy an entire packet including header, which must be present.
This is an optimized version of the common case m_copym(mbuf, 0,
M_COPYALL, how). Note: the copy is read-only, because the mbuf
clusters are not copied, only their reference counts are
incremented.
m_dup(mbuf, how)
Copy a packet header mbuf chain into a completely new mbuf chain,
including copying any mbuf clusters. Use this instead of
m_copypacket() when you need a writable copy of an mbuf chain.
m_copydata(mbuf, offset, len, buf)
Copy data from an mbuf chain starting off bytes from the beginning,
continuing for len bytes, into the indicated buffer buf.
m_copyback(mbuf, offset, len, buf)
Copy len bytes from the buffer buf back into the indicated mbuf
chain, starting at offset bytes from the beginning of the mbuf
chain, extending the mbuf chain if necessary. Note: It does not
allocate any mbuf clusters, just adds mbufs to the mbuf chain. It
is safe to set offset beyond the current mbuf chain end: zeroed
mbufs will be allocated to fill the space.
m_length(mbuf, last)
Return the length of the mbuf chain, and optionally a pointer to
the last mbuf.
m_dup_pkthdr(to, from, how)
Upon the function’s completion, the mbuf to will contain an
identical copy of from->m_pkthdr and the per-packet attributes
found in the mbuf chain from. The mbuf from must have the flag
M_PKTHDR initially set, and to must be empty on entry.
m_move_pkthdr(to, from)
Move m_pkthdr and the per-packet attributes from the mbuf chain
from to the mbuf to. The mbuf from must have the flag M_PKTHDR
initially set, and to must be empty on entry. Upon the function’s
completion, from will have the flag M_PKTHDR and the per-packet
attributes cleared.
m_fixhdr(mbuf)
Set the packet-header length to the length of the mbuf chain.
m_devget(buf, len, offset, ifp, copy)
Copy data from a device local memory pointed to by buf to an mbuf
chain. The copy is done using a specified copy routine copy, or
bcopy() if copy is NULL.
m_cat(m, n)
Concatenate n to m. Both mbuf chains must be of the same type. N
is still valid after the function returned. Note: It does not
handle M_PKTHDR and friends.
m_split(mbuf, len, how)
Partition an mbuf chain in two pieces, returning the tail: all but
the first len bytes. In case of failure, it returns NULL and
attempts to restore the mbuf chain to its original state.
m_apply(mbuf, off, len, f, arg)
Apply a function to an mbuf chain, at offset off, for length len
bytes. Typically used to avoid calls to m_pullup() which would
otherwise be unnecessary or undesirable. arg is a convenience
argument which is passed to the callback function f.
Each time f() is called, it will be passed arg, a pointer to the
data in the current mbuf, and the length len of the data in this
mbuf to which the function should be applied.
The function should return zero to indicate success; otherwise, if
an error is indicated, then m_apply() will return the error and
stop iterating through the mbuf chain.
m_getptr(mbuf, loc, off)
Return a pointer to the mbuf containing the data located at loc
bytes from the beginning of the mbuf chain. The corresponding
offset into the mbuf will be stored in *off.
m_defrag(m0, how)
Defragment an mbuf chain, returning the shortest possible chain of
mbufs and clusters. If allocation fails and this can not be
completed, NULL will be returned and the original chain will be
unchanged. Upon success, the original chain will be freed and the
new chain will be returned. how should be either M_WAIT or
M_DONTWAIT, depending on the caller’s preference.
This function is especially useful in network drivers, where
certain long mbuf chains must be shortened before being added to TX
descriptor lists.
m_unshare(m0, how)
Create a version of the specified mbuf chain whose contents can be
safely modified without affecting other users. If allocation fails
and this operation can not be completed, NULL will be returned.
The original mbuf chain is always reclaimed and the reference count
of any shared mbuf clusters is decremented. how should be either
M_WAIT or M_DONTWAIT, depending on the caller’s preference. As a
side-effect of this process the returned mbuf chain may be
compacted.
This function is especially useful in the transmit path of network
code, when data must be encrypted or otherwise altered prior to
transmission.
HARDWARE-ASSISTED CHECKSUM CALCULATION
This section currently applies to TCP/IP only. In order to save the host
CPU resources, computing checksums is offloaded to the network interface
hardware if possible. The m_pkthdr member of the leading mbuf of a
packet contains two fields used for that purpose, int csum_flags and int
csum_data. The meaning of those fields depends on the direction a packet
flows in, and on whether the packet is fragmented. Henceforth,
csum_flags or csum_data of a packet will denote the corresponding field
of the m_pkthdr member of the leading mbuf in the mbuf chain containing
the packet.
On output, checksum offloading is attempted after the outgoing interface
has been determined for a packet. The interface-specific field
ifnet.if_data.ifi_hwassist (see ifnet(9)) is consulted for the
capabilities of the interface to assist in computing checksums. The
csum_flags field of the packet header is set to indicate which actions
the interface is supposed to perform on it. The actions unsupported by
the network interface are done in the software prior to passing the
packet down to the interface driver; such actions will never be requested
through csum_flags.
The flags demanding a particular action from an interface are as follows:
CSUM_IP The IP header checksum is to be computed and stored in
the corresponding field of the packet. The hardware is
expected to know the format of an IP header to determine
the offset of the IP checksum field.
CSUM_TCP The TCP checksum is to be computed. (See below.)
CSUM_UDP The UDP checksum is to be computed. (See below.)
Should a TCP or UDP checksum be offloaded to the hardware, the field
csum_data will contain the byte offset of the checksum field relative to
the end of the IP header. In this case, the checksum field will be
initially set by the TCP/IP module to the checksum of the pseudo header
defined by the TCP and UDP specifications.
For outbound packets which have been fragmented by the host CPU, the
following will also be true, regardless of the checksum flag settings:
· all fragments will have the flag M_FRAG set in their m_flags
field;
· the first and the last fragments in the chain will have
M_FIRSTFRAG or M_LASTFRAG set in their m_flags,
correspondingly;
· the first fragment in the chain will have the total number of
fragments contained in its csum_data field.
The last rule for fragmented packets takes precedence over the one for a
TCP or UDP checksum. Nevertheless, offloading a TCP or UDP checksum is
possible for a fragmented packet if the flag CSUM_IP_FRAGS is set in the
field ifnet.if_data.ifi_hwassist associated with the network interface.
However, in this case the interface is expected to figure out the
location of the checksum field within the sequence of fragments by itself
because csum_data contains a fragment count instead of a checksum offset
value.
On input, an interface indicates the actions it has performed on a packet
by setting one or more of the following flags in csum_flags associated
with the packet:
CSUM_IP_CHECKED The IP header checksum has been computed.
CSUM_IP_VALID The IP header has a valid checksum. This flag can
appear only in combination with CSUM_IP_CHECKED.
CSUM_DATA_VALID The checksum of the data portion of the IP packet
has been computed and stored in the field
csum_data in network byte order.
CSUM_PSEUDO_HDR Can be set only along with CSUM_DATA_VALID to
indicate that the IP data checksum found in
csum_data allows for the pseudo header defined by
the TCP and UDP specifications. Otherwise the
checksum of the pseudo header must be calculated
by the host CPU and added to csum_data to obtain
the final checksum to be used for TCP or UDP
validation purposes.
If a particular network interface just indicates success or failure of
TCP or UDP checksum validation without returning the exact value of the
checksum to the host CPU, its driver can mark CSUM_DATA_VALID and
CSUM_PSEUDO_HDR in csum_flags, and set csum_data to 0xFFFF hexadecimal to
indicate a valid checksum. It is a peculiarity of the algorithm used
that the Internet checksum calculated over any valid packet will be
0xFFFF as long as the original checksum field is included.
For inbound packets which are IP fragments, all csum_data fields will be
summed during reassembly to obtain the final checksum value passed to an
upper layer in the csum_data field of the reassembled packet. The
csum_flags fields of all fragments will be consolidated using logical AND
to obtain the final value for csum_flags. Thus, in order to successfully
offload checksum computation for fragmented data, all fragments should
have the same value of csum_flags.
STRESS TESTING
When running a kernel compiled with the option MBUF_STRESS_TEST, the
following sysctl(8)-controlled options may be used to create various
failure/extreme cases for testing of network drivers and other parts of
the kernel that rely on mbufs.
net.inet.ip.mbuf_frag_size
Causes ip_output() to fragment outgoing mbuf chains into fragments
of the specified size. Setting this variable to 1 is an excellent
way to test the long mbuf chain handling ability of network
drivers.
kern.ipc.m_defragrandomfailures
Causes the function m_defrag() to randomly fail, returning NULL.
Any piece of code which uses m_defrag() should be tested with this
feature.
RETURN VALUES
See above.
SEE ALSO
ifnet(9), mbuf_tags(9)
HISTORY
Mbufs appeared in an early version of BSD. Besides being used for
network packets, they were used to store various dynamic structures, such
as routing table entries, interface addresses, protocol control blocks,
etc. In more recent FreeBSD use of mbufs is almost entirely limited to
packet storage, with uma(9) zones being used directly to store other
network-related memory.
Historically, the mbuf allocator has been a special-purpose memory
allocator able to run in interrupt contexts and allocating from a special
kernel address space map. As of FreeBSD 5.3, the mbuf allocator is a
wrapper around uma(9), allowing caching of mbufs, clusters, and mbuf +
cluster pairs in per-CPU caches, as well as bringing other benefits of
slab allocation.
AUTHORS
The original mbuf manual page was written by Yar Tikhiy. The uma(9) mbuf
allocator was written by Bosko Milekic.