I am trying to get a deeper understanding of the virtual memory manager of linux. If have found a book called "Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager[1]" written by Mel Gorman which looks quite elaborate. Unfortunately it is based on the 2.4 kernel series so its kind of ancient.
Has anyone read the book? Is it still relevant? Alternatives?
From the document you cited:
What's New in 2.6
At the time of writing, 2.6.0-test4 has just been released so 2.6.0-final is due any month now which means December 2003 or early 2004. Fortunately the 2.6 VM, in most ways, is still quite recognisable in comparison to 2.4. However, there is some new material and concepts in 2.6 and it would be pity to ignore them so to address this, hence the What's New in 2.6 sections. To some extent, these sections presume you have read the rest of the book so only glance at them during the rst reading. If you decide to start reading 2.5 and 2.6 VM code, the basic description of what to expect from the Whats New sections should greatly aid your understanding. 2.6.0-test4 It is important to note that the sections are based on the kernel which should not change change signicantly before 2.6. As they are still subject to change though, you should still treat the What's New sections as guidelines rather than definite facts [emphasis mine]
Knowing how it mostly works is perhaps 90% or more of the task, and a 700+ page book for free is going to be hard to beat.
After having spent some time with the book on one side and a recent kernel on the other side, i would conclude that its not outdated and worth a read. Some concepts and a lot of details have changed but in general it still describes the Linux VM. The appendices may be less usefull as they contain a commented version of the 2.4 VM source.