Explain the basics of mmap() as relevant for the file storage

Closes #3760
parent e2220de3
......@@ -114,8 +114,18 @@ file
syntax: file,path[,size[,granularity[,advice]]]
The file backend stores objects in memory backed by an unlinked file on disk
with `mmap`.
The file backend stores objects in virtual memory backed by an
unlinked file on disk with `mmap`, relying on the kernel handle paging
as parts of the file are being accessed.
This implies that sufficient *virtual* memory needs to be available to
accomodate the file size in addition to any memory Varnish requires
anyway. Traditionally, the virtual memory limit is configured with
``ulimit -v``, but modern operating systems have other abstractions
for this limit like control groups (Linux) or resource controls
(Solaris).
.. XXX idk about the BSD and MacOS abstractions -- slink
The 'path' parameter specifies either the path to the backing file or
the path to a directory in which `varnishd` will create the backing file.
......
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