.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0

=====================================
Virtual Memory Layout on RISC-V Linux
=====================================

:Author: Alexandre Ghiti <alex@ghiti.fr>
:Date: 12 February 2021

This document describes the virtual memory layout used by the RISC-V Linux
Kernel.

RISC-V Linux Kernel 32bit
=========================

RISC-V Linux Kernel SV32
------------------------

TODO

RISC-V Linux Kernel 64bit
=========================

The RISC-V privileged architecture document states that the 64bit addresses
"must have bits 63–48 all equal to bit 47, or else a page-fault exception will
occur.": that splits the virtual address space into 2 halves separated by a very
big hole, the lower half is where the userspace resides, the upper half is where
the RISC-V Linux Kernel resides.

RISC-V Linux Kernel SV39
------------------------

::

  ========================================================================================================================
      Start addr    |   Offset   |     End addr     |  Size   | VM area description
  ========================================================================================================================
                    |            |                  |         |
   0000000000000000 |    0       | 0000003fffffffff |  256 GB | user-space virtual memory, different per mm
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   0000004000000000 | +256    GB | ffffffbfffffffff | ~16M TB | ... huge, almost 64 bits wide hole of non-canonical
                    |            |                  |         |     virtual memory addresses up to the -256 GB
                    |            |                  |         |     starting offset of kernel mappings.
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              | Kernel-space virtual memory, shared between all processes:
  ____________________________________________________________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ffffffc4fea00000 | -236    GB | ffffffc4feffffff |    6 MB | fixmap
   ffffffc4ff000000 | -236    GB | ffffffc4ffffffff |   16 MB | PCI io
   ffffffc500000000 | -236    GB | ffffffc5ffffffff |    4 GB | vmemmap
   ffffffc600000000 | -232    GB | ffffffd5ffffffff |   64 GB | vmalloc/ioremap space
   ffffffd600000000 | -168    GB | fffffff5ffffffff |  128 GB | direct mapping of all physical memory
                    |            |                  |         |
   fffffff700000000 |  -36    GB | fffffffeffffffff |   32 GB | kasan
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              |
  ____________________________________________________________|____________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ffffffff00000000 |   -4    GB | ffffffff7fffffff |    2 GB | modules, BPF
   ffffffff80000000 |   -2    GB | ffffffffffffffff |    2 GB | kernel
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________


RISC-V Linux Kernel SV48
------------------------

::

 ========================================================================================================================
      Start addr    |   Offset   |     End addr     |  Size   | VM area description
 ========================================================================================================================
                    |            |                  |         |
   0000000000000000 |    0       | 00007fffffffffff |  128 TB | user-space virtual memory, different per mm
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   0000800000000000 | +128    TB | ffff7fffffffffff | ~16M TB | ... huge, almost 64 bits wide hole of non-canonical
                    |            |                  |         | virtual memory addresses up to the -128 TB
                    |            |                  |         | starting offset of kernel mappings.
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              | Kernel-space virtual memory, shared between all processes:
  ____________________________________________________________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ffff8d7ffea00000 |  -114.5 TB | ffff8d7ffeffffff |    6 MB | fixmap
   ffff8d7fff000000 |  -114.5 TB | ffff8d7fffffffff |   16 MB | PCI io
   ffff8d8000000000 |  -114.5 TB | ffff8f7fffffffff |    2 TB | vmemmap
   ffff8f8000000000 |  -112.5 TB | ffffaf7fffffffff |   32 TB | vmalloc/ioremap space
   ffffaf8000000000 |  -80.5  TB | ffffef7fffffffff |   64 TB | direct mapping of all physical memory
   ffffef8000000000 |  -16.5  TB | fffffffeffffffff | 16.5 TB | kasan
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              | Identical layout to the 39-bit one from here on:
  ____________________________________________________________|____________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ffffffff00000000 |   -4    GB | ffffffff7fffffff |    2 GB | modules, BPF
   ffffffff80000000 |   -2    GB | ffffffffffffffff |    2 GB | kernel
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________


RISC-V Linux Kernel SV57
------------------------

::

 ========================================================================================================================
      Start addr    |   Offset   |     End addr     |  Size   | VM area description
 ========================================================================================================================
                    |            |                  |         |
   0000000000000000 |   0        | 00ffffffffffffff |   64 PB | user-space virtual memory, different per mm
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   0100000000000000 | +64     PB | feffffffffffffff | ~16K PB | ... huge, almost 64 bits wide hole of non-canonical
                    |            |                  |         | virtual memory addresses up to the -64 PB
                    |            |                  |         | starting offset of kernel mappings.
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|___________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              | Kernel-space virtual memory, shared between all processes:
  ____________________________________________________________|___________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ff1bfffffea00000 | -57     PB | ff1bfffffeffffff |    6 MB | fixmap
   ff1bffffff000000 | -57     PB | ff1bffffffffffff |   16 MB | PCI io
   ff1c000000000000 | -57     PB | ff1fffffffffffff |    1 PB | vmemmap
   ff20000000000000 | -56     PB | ff5fffffffffffff |   16 PB | vmalloc/ioremap space
   ff60000000000000 | -40     PB | ffdeffffffffffff |   32 PB | direct mapping of all physical memory
   ffdf000000000000 |  -8     PB | fffffffeffffffff |    8 PB | kasan
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________
                                                              |
                                                              | Identical layout to the 39-bit one from here on:
  ____________________________________________________________|____________________________________________________________
                    |            |                  |         |
   ffffffff00000000 |  -4     GB | ffffffff7fffffff |    2 GB | modules, BPF
   ffffffff80000000 |  -2     GB | ffffffffffffffff |    2 GB | kernel
  __________________|____________|__________________|_________|____________________________________________________________