ndctl

Utility library for managing the libnvdimm (non-volatile memory device) sub-system in the Linux kernel

Build

./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-local
make
make check
sudo make install

Documentation

See the latest documentation for the NVDIMM kernel sub-system here:

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm.git/tree/Documentation/nvdimm/nvdimm.txt?h=libnvdimm-for-next

Unit Tests

The unit tests run by make check require the nfit_test.ko module to be loaded. To build and install nfit_test.ko:

1. Obtain the kernel source. For example,
   git clone -b libnvdimm-for-next git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm.git

2. Skip to step 3 if the kernel version is >= v4.8. Otherwise, for kernel versions < v4.8, configure the kernel to make some memory available to CMA (contiguous memory allocator). This will be used to emulate DAX.
   CONFIG_DMA_CMA=y
CONFIG_CMA_SIZE_MBYTES=200
   or
   cma=200M on the kernel command line.

3. Compile the libnvdimm sub-system as a module, make sure "zone device" memory is enabled, and enable the btt, pfn, and dax features of the sub-system:
   CONFIG_ZONE_DEVICE=y
CONFIG_LIBNVDIMM=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PMEM=m
CONFIG_ND_BLK=m
CONFIG_BTT=y
CONFIG_NVDIMM_PFN=y
CONFIG_NVDIMM_DAX=y

4. Build and install the unit test enabled libnvdimm modules in the following order. The unit test modules need to be in place prior to the depmod that runs during the final modules_install
make M=tools/testing/nvdimm/
sudo make M=tools/testing/nvdimm/ modules_install
sudo make modules_install

5. Now run make check in the ndctl source directory, or ndctl test, if ndctl was built with --enable-test.