-This file contains one value. The following algorithm is used to decide if
-there's enough memory: if the value of overcommit_memory is positive, then
-there's always enough memory. This is a useful feature, since programs often
-malloc() huge amounts of memory 'just in case', while they only use a small
-part of it. Leaving this value at 0 will lead to the failure of such a huge
-malloc(), when in fact the system has enough memory for the program to run.
+Controls overcommit of system memory, possibly allowing processes
+to allocate (but not use) more memory than is actually available.
+
+
+0 - Heuristic overcommit handling. Obvious overcommits of
+ address space are refused. Used for a typical system. It
+ ensures a seriously wild allocation fails while allowing
+ overcommit to reduce swap usage. root is allowed to
+ allocate slightly more memory in this mode. This is the
+ default.
+
+1 - Always overcommit. Appropriate for some scientific
+ applications.
+
+2 - Don't overcommit. The total address space commit
+ for the system is not permitted to exceed swap plus a
+ configurable percentage (default is 50) of physical RAM.
+ Depending on the percentage you use, in most situations
+ this means a process will not be killed while attempting
+ to use already-allocated memory but will receive errors
+ on memory allocation as appropriate.
+
+overcommit_ratio
+----------------
+
+Percentage of physical memory size to include in overcommit calculations
+(see above.)
+
+Memory allocation limit = swapspace + physmem * (overcommit_ratio / 100)
+
+ swapspace = total size of all swap areas
+ physmem = size of physical memory in system
+
+nr_hugepages and hugetlb_shm_group
+----------------------------------
+
+nr_hugepages configures number of hugetlb page reserved for the system.
+
+hugetlb_shm_group contains group id that is allowed to create SysV shared
+memory segment using hugetlb page.
+
+laptop_mode
+-----------
+
+laptop_mode is a knob that controls "laptop mode". All the things that are
+controlled by this knob are discussed in Documentation/laptop-mode.txt.
+
+block_dump
+----------
+
+block_dump enables block I/O debugging when set to a nonzero value. More
+information on block I/O debugging is in Documentation/laptop-mode.txt.
+
+swap_token_timeout
+------------------
+
+This file contains valid hold time of swap out protection token. The Linux
+VM has token based thrashing control mechanism and uses the token to prevent
+unnecessary page faults in thrashing situation. The unit of the value is
+second. The value would be useful to tune thrashing behavior.
+
+drop_caches
+-----------
+
+Writing to this will cause the kernel to drop clean caches, dentries and
+inodes from memory, causing that memory to become free.
+
+To free pagecache:
+ echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
+To free dentries and inodes:
+ echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
+To free pagecache, dentries and inodes:
+ echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
+
+As this is a non-destructive operation and dirty objects are not freeable, the
+user should run `sync' first.