On Gwe, 2003-08-15 at 14:49, Carpenter, Mark wrote: > Refer to my reply to Alan Cox. The files don't have to be closed to > 'release' their buffercache pages. Buffercache pages are 'stolen' all the > time to hold the contents of more current active files.
There is a difference between choosing to drop a page (which can be done most but not all of the time) and discarding it entirely even if its being used/executed and is mapped. In addition you have other caches and quick lookup tables holding file system structures and metadata, you also have ordering requirements.
