Suggested fix for JDK-4724038 (Add unmap method to MappedByteBuffer)

[David M. Lloyd]

On 09/08/2015 08:11 AM, Andrew Haley wrote:
> On 09/08/2015 12:37 PM, David M. Lloyd wrote:
>> Then you do the real unmap when
>> the buffer is GC'd (maybe via Cleaner).  This is very akin to how file
>> descriptors are cleaned up, AFAICT.
>
> Indeed it is, and it's no better than the status quo.  This is an attempt
> to do better.

Actually it *is* better, as it releases the mapping to the underlying 
file, and does not require any resources (outside of the page table 
itself and any associated kernel bookkeeping) to maintain a valid state 
during the time window between user-driven unmap and automatic GC.  The 
underlying file can (for example) immediately relinquish reserved disk 
storage or RAM at unmap time (the desired effect), rather than waiting 
for GC to come around (status quo).

I believe that reclaiming the reserved address space is of much less 
importance than freeing the backing resources (especially for 64-bit 
systems), which is why I suggest this approach.

-- 
- DML