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The system's virtual memory (VM) consists of all available physical memory resources. Examples include local and remote file systems, processor primary memory, swap space, and other random-access devices. Named objects in the virtual memory are referenced though the UNIX file system. However, not all file system objects are in the virtual memory; devices that cannot be treated as storage, such as terminal and network device files, are not in the virtual memory. Some virtual memory objects, such as private process memory and shared memory segments, do not have names.
A process's address space is defined by mappings onto objects in the system's virtual memory (usually files). Each mapping is constrained to be sized and aligned with the page boundaries of the system on which the process is executing. Each page may be mapped (or not) independently. Only process addresses which are mapped to some system object are valid, for there is no memory associated with processes themselves--all memory is represented by objects in the system's virtual memory.
Each object in the virtual memory has an object address space defined by some physical storage. A reference to an object address accesses the physical storage that implements the address within the object. The virtual memory's associated physical storage is thus accessed by transforming process addresses to object addresses, and then to the physical store.
A given process page may map to only one object, although a given object address may be the subject of many process mappings. An important characteristic of a mapping is that the object to which the mapping is made is not affected by the mere existence of the mapping. Thus, it cannot, in general, be expected that an object has an ``awareness'' of having been mapped, or of which portions of its address space are accessed by mappings; in particular, the notion of a ``page'' is not a property of the object. Establishing a mapping to an object simply provides the potential for a process to access or change the object's contents.
The establishment of mappings provides an access method that renders an object directly addressable by a process. Applications may find it advantageous to access the storage resources they use directly rather than indirectly through read and write. Potential advantages include efficiency (elimination of unnecessary data copying) and reduced complexity (single-step updates rather than the read, modify buffer, write cycle). The ability to access an object and have it retain its identity over the course of the access is unique to this access method, and facilitates the sharing of common code and data.