1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
2
3=============
4ID Allocation
5=============
6
7:Author: Matthew Wilcox
8
9Overview
10========
11
12A common problem to solve is allocating identifiers (IDs); generally
13small numbers which identify a thing.  Examples include file descriptors,
14process IDs, packet identifiers in networking protocols, SCSI tags
15and device instance numbers.  The IDR and the IDA provide a reasonable
16solution to the problem to avoid everybody inventing their own.  The IDR
17provides the ability to map an ID to a pointer, while the IDA provides
18only ID allocation, and as a result is much more memory-efficient.
19
20IDR usage
21=========
22
23Start by initialising an IDR, either with DEFINE_IDR()
24for statically allocated IDRs or idr_init() for dynamically
25allocated IDRs.
26
27You can call idr_alloc() to allocate an unused ID.  Look up
28the pointer you associated with the ID by calling idr_find()
29and free the ID by calling idr_remove().
30
31If you need to change the pointer associated with an ID, you can call
32idr_replace().  One common reason to do this is to reserve an
33ID by passing a ``NULL`` pointer to the allocation function; initialise the
34object with the reserved ID and finally insert the initialised object
35into the IDR.
36
37Some users need to allocate IDs larger than ``INT_MAX``.  So far all of
38these users have been content with a ``UINT_MAX`` limit, and they use
39idr_alloc_u32().  If you need IDs that will not fit in a u32,
40we will work with you to address your needs.
41
42If you need to allocate IDs sequentially, you can use
43idr_alloc_cyclic().  The IDR becomes less efficient when dealing
44with larger IDs, so using this function comes at a slight cost.
45
46To perform an action on all pointers used by the IDR, you can
47either use the callback-based idr_for_each() or the
48iterator-style idr_for_each_entry().  You may need to use
49idr_for_each_entry_continue() to continue an iteration.  You can
50also use idr_get_next() if the iterator doesn't fit your needs.
51
52When you have finished using an IDR, you can call idr_destroy()
53to release the memory used by the IDR.  This will not free the objects
54pointed to from the IDR; if you want to do that, use one of the iterators
55to do it.
56
57You can use idr_is_empty() to find out whether there are any
58IDs currently allocated.
59
60If you need to take a lock while allocating a new ID from the IDR,
61you may need to pass a restrictive set of GFP flags, which can lead
62to the IDR being unable to allocate memory.  To work around this,
63you can call idr_preload() before taking the lock, and then
64idr_preload_end() after the allocation.
65
66.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/idr.h
67   :doc: idr sync
68
69IDA usage
70=========
71
72.. kernel-doc:: lib/idr.c
73   :doc: IDA description
74
75Functions and structures
76========================
77
78.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/idr.h
79   :functions:
80.. kernel-doc:: lib/idr.c
81   :functions:
82