free: reusing 'shared' for Shmem

Previously the shared memory column was always zero
for 2.6 series kernels (and later) due to the fact,
that the value was taken from the MemShared entry
that disappeared with 2.6 series kernels.
Later a new Shmem entry appeared in the /proc/meminfo
file and the 'shared' column now displays either
the MemShared or the Shmem value (depending on their
presence - the presence is mutually exclusive).
If none of the two entries is exported by the kernel,
then the column is zero.

diff --git a/free.1 b/free.1
index f7c2313abae32fff4c6e9070f22073e30af84fa2..1e8e7ef73fe1d067a388a49943ef668f0e82f41a 100644 (file)
--- a/free.1
+++ b/free.1
@@ -11,8 +11,11 @@ free \- Display amount of free and used memory in the system
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .B free
 displays the total amount of free and used physical and swap memory in the
-system, as well as the buffers used by the kernel.  The shared memory column
-should be ignored; it is obsolete.
+system, as well as the buffers used by the kernel.
+The shared memory column represents either the MemShared value (2.4 series
+kernels) or the Shmem value (2.6 series kernels and later) taken from the
+/proc/meminfo file. The value is zero if none of the entries is exported
+by the kernel.
 .SH OPTIONS
 .TP
 \fB\-b\fR, \fB\-\-bytes\fR

diff --git a/proc/sysinfo.c b/proc/sysinfo.c
index 15cdb831d621b787eedcb27ddb80cab8701d28fd..fb98c8a64a6ccf0147391fbd87a3e093d2f66879 100644 (file)
--- a/proc/sysinfo.c
+++ b/proc/sysinfo.c
@@ -629,13 +629,14 @@ void meminfo(void){
   {"LowTotal",     &kb_low_total},
   {"Mapped",       &kb_mapped},       // kB version of vmstat nr_mapped
   {"MemFree",      &kb_main_free},    // important
-  {"MemShared",    &kb_main_shared},  // important, but now gone!
+  {"MemShared",    &kb_main_shared},  // obsolete since kernel 2.6! (sharing the variable with Shmem replacement)
   {"MemTotal",     &kb_main_total},   // important
   {"NFS_Unstable", &kb_nfs_unstable},
   {"PageTables",   &kb_pagetables},   // kB version of vmstat nr_page_table_pages
   {"ReverseMaps",  &nr_reversemaps},  // same as vmstat nr_page_table_pages
   {"SReclaimable", &kb_swap_reclaimable}, // "swap reclaimable" (dentry and inode structures)
   {"SUnreclaim",   &kb_swap_unreclaimable},
+  {"Shmem",        &kb_main_shared},  // kernel 2.6 and later (sharing the output variable with obsolete MemShared)
   {"Slab",         &kb_slab},         // kB version of vmstat nr_slab
   {"SwapCached",   &kb_swap_cached},
   {"SwapFree",     &kb_swap_free},    // important