cache(3)

cache3

Cache control

Usage

#include <libkern/OSCacheControl.h>

int

sys_cache_control(int function, void *start, size_t len);

void

sys_icache_invalidate(void *start, size_t len);

void

sys_dcache_flush(void *start, size_t len);

Library

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

Overview

These functions operate on every cache line containing one of the len bytes of memory pointed to by start. Normally the operations apply to every processor in the system, but the exact semantics of these operations is platform dependent. They should be used with caution.

sys_cache_control() performs the operation specified by function. Refer to the header file for a list of currently supported functions.

sys_icache_invalidate() prepares memory for execution, typically by invalidating the instruction cache for the indicated range. This should be called after writing machine instructions to memory, and before executing them. On IA32 processors this function is a NOP, because their instruction caches are coherent.

sys_dcache_flush() writes modified data cache lines to main memory, and then invalidates all lines in the range being operated on. It can be useful when dealing with cache incoherent devices or DMA.

Return values

sys_cache_control() returns zero on success, ENOTSUP if function is not valid.

Releases

Unchanged in 96 releases since Mac OS X 10.5.

  1. 10.5–26.5

History

These functions first appeared in Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard).

From libplatform 375.120.2 in macOS 26.5. Parsed by carta from the page's mdoc source.