.\" -*- nroff -*-
.TH kmalloc 9 "Aug 3, 1997" "Linux" "Kernel Functions"
.SH NAME
kmalloc, kfree \- allocate and free pieces of memory
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <linux/malloc.h>
.sp
.BI "void * kmalloc (size_t " size ", int " priority ");"
.br
.BI "void kfree (void * " __ptr ");"
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B kmalloc
function allocates a piece of memory.
.PP
The parameter
.I size
is the number of bytes that will be allocated.  The parameter
.I priority
indicates the importance and type of the memory request.  Some
possible values are GFP_DMA, GFP_ATOMIC, GFP_BUFFER, and GFP_NFS.
.PP
The
.B kfree
function releases a piece of memory that is passed as the
.I __ptr
parameter.
.SH "RETURN VALUE"
On success,
.B kmalloc
returns a pointer to the newly allocated memory. 
.PP
If there is an error, NULL is returned instead.
.PP
.SH AVAILABILITY
Linux 2.0
.SH AUTHOR
Kirk Petersen (kirk@speakeasy.org)
.SH BUGS