Looking at __vm_enough_memory() in mm/util.c, user_reserve_kbytes has no effect when overcommit_memory is set to 0 or 1. The documentation for overcommit_memory already references user_reserve_kbytes when the flag is set to 2. Let's go ahead and add a clarification to user_reserve_kbytes in vm.rst that it has no effect when overcommit_memory is set to 0 or 1. Signed-off-by: Brian Masney --- Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst | 2 ++ 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst index 97e12359775c..b9b0c218bfb4 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst @@ -1034,6 +1034,8 @@ min(3% of current process size, user_reserve_kbytes) of free memory. This is intended to prevent a user from starting a single memory hogging process, such that they cannot recover (kill the hog). +This setting has no effect when overcommit_memory is set to 0 or 1. + user_reserve_kbytes defaults to min(3% of the current process size, 128MB). If this is reduced to zero, then the user will be allowed to allocate --- base-commit: e7d700e14934e68f86338c5610cf2ae76798b663 change-id: 20260528-mm-clarify-docs-76ab8f82826d Best regards, -- Brian Masney