On Thu, Oct 24, 2002 at 11:02:15AM +0100, David Laight wrote:

 > OTOH my 'gut' feel is that the pool allocater isn't as
 > efficient as malloc.  Especially if malloc:

The pool allocator has a couple of advantages over malloc():

	1. It performs some cache coloring.

	2. It also provides caches of pre-constructed objects (this is
	   used in a few places in the kernel).

	3. Most importantly, pool can use direct-mapped segments that
	   some platforms provide, greatly reducing TLB usage.

-- 
        -- Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@wasabisystems.com>