Does Android support Virtual memory

Question

Does Android support virtual memory concept? I read it does use paging but not swap space. That is, it relies heavily on being able to mmap() files and have the kernel page in

Answer 1

Android does support virtual memory concept. And Android kernel does support swap.You can confirm it by looking up "CONFIG_SWAP=y" in the .config file of kernel source.

But enabling swap should also use a swap partition and run "swapon". So, though the kernel support SWAP, the android kernel don't use it. You can also confirm it by "cat /proc/meminfo" in adb shell of android.

PS: Paging and swap space is not the same thing.

Answer 2

Here are some links related to android memory management. http://mobworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/memory-management-in-android/ http://android-developers.blogspot.kr/2011/03/memory-analysis-for-android.html

Android uses virtual memory but swap partition is not enabled in android kernel