memcg: update documentation to describe usage_in_bytes

[pandora-kernel.git] / Documentation / cgroups / memory.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
index b6ed61c..7c16347 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
+++ b/Documentation/cgroups/memory.txt
@@ -52,8 +52,10 @@ Brief summary of control files.
  tasks                          # attach a task(thread) and show list of threads
  cgroup.procs                   # show list of processes
  cgroup.event_control           # an interface for event_fd()
- memory.usage_in_bytes          # show current memory(RSS+Cache) usage.
- memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes    # show current memory+Swap usage
+ memory.usage_in_bytes          # show current res_counter usage for memory
+                                (See 5.5 for details)
+ memory.memsw.usage_in_bytes    # show current res_counter usage for memory+Swap
+                                (See 5.5 for details)
  memory.limit_in_bytes          # set/show limit of memory usage
  memory.memsw.limit_in_bytes    # set/show limit of memory+Swap usage
  memory.failcnt                         # show the number of memory usage hits limits
@@ -453,6 +455,15 @@ memory under it will be reclaimed.
 You can reset failcnt by writing 0 to failcnt file.
 # echo 0 > .../memory.failcnt
 
+5.5 usage_in_bytes
+
+For efficiency, as other kernel components, memory cgroup uses some optimization
+to avoid unnecessary cacheline false sharing. usage_in_bytes is affected by the
+method and doesn't show 'exact' value of memory(and swap) usage, it's an fuzz
+value for efficient access. (Of course, when necessary, it's synchronized.)
+If you want to know more exact memory usage, you should use RSS+CACHE(+SWAP)
+value in memory.stat(see 5.2).
+
 6. Hierarchy support
 
 The memory controller supports a deep hierarchy and hierarchical accounting.