>> how do you know 16 or so is enough?
>
>It's just a guess.  What I'm assuming is that if you start with 16, and 
>try to never let that drop below 8 (allocating more if you do), then 
>you'll "never" run out.  If you do, well, panic, for now, I guess.
>
>I'm just trying to offer suggestions that might lead to a better fix 
>than simply disabling map entry merging for kernel maps.

how about some sort of "pool" allocator that keeps ~10% of freed map
entries around?  ie, count when entries are allocated and attempts to
keep one free one on a list for every 10 that are in use?

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