https://docs.rs/mmap-io

High-performance, async-ready memory-mapped file I/O library for Rust. Provides fast, zero-copy reads and efficient writes with safe, concurrent access. Designed for databases, game engines, caches, and real-time applications.

Capabilities

• Zero-copy reads and efficient writes.

• Read-only and read-write modes.

• Segment-based access (offset + length)

• Thread-safe via interior mutability (parking_lot RwLock)

• Cross-platform via memmap2

• Optional async helpers with Tokio.

• MSRV: 1.76

Optional Features

The following optional Cargo features enable extended functionality for mmap-io. Enable only what you need to minimize binary size and dependencies.

Feature	Description
async	Enables Tokio-based async helpers for asynchronous file and memory operations.
advise	Enables memory hinting using madvise/posix_madvise (Unix) or Prefetch (Windows).
iterator	Provides iterator-based access to memory chunks or pages with zero-copy read access.
hugepages	Enables support for Huge Pages via MAP_HUGETLB (Linux) or FILE_ATTRIBUTE_LARGE_PAGES (Windows), reducing TLB misses and improving performance for large memory regions. Requires system configuration and elevated privileges.
cow	Enables Copy-on-Write (COW) mapping mode using private memory views (per-process isolation).
locking	Enables page-level memory locking via mlock/munlock (Unix) or VirtualLock (Windows).
atomic	Exposes atomic views into memory as aligned u32 / u64, with strict safety guarantees.
watch	Enables file change notifications via inotify, kqueue, FSEvents, or ReadDirectoryChangesW. Falls back to polling where unavailable.

⚠️ Features are opt-in. Enable only those relevant to your use case to reduce compile time and dependency bloat.

Default Features

By default, the following features are enabled:

• advise – Memory access hinting for performance

• iterator – Iterator-based chunk/page access

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
mmap-io = { version = "0.9.3" }

Enable async helpers (Tokio) when needed:

[dependencies]
mmap-io = { version = "0.9.3", features = ["async"] }

Or, enable other features like: cow, locking, or advise

[dependencies]
mmap-io = { version = "0.9.3, features = ["cow", "locking"] }

See full list of Features (shown above).

If you're building for minimal environments or want total control over feature flags, you can disable default features by using default-features = false (see below).

[dependencies]
mmap-io = { version = "0.9.3", default-features = false, features = ["locking"] }

Example Usage

use mmap_io::{MmapMode, MemoryMappedFile};

fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
    // Open an existing file in read-only mode
    let mmap = MemoryMappedFile::open("data.bin", MmapMode::ReadOnly)?;

    // Read memory-mapped contents
    let slice = mmap.as_slice();
    println!("First byte: {}", slice[0]);

    Ok(())
}

Flush Policy

mmap-io supports configurable flush behavior for ReadWrite mappings via a FlushPolicy, allowing you to trade off durability and throughput.

Policy variants:

• FlushPolicy::Never / FlushPolicy::Manual: No automatic flushes. Call mmap.flush() when you want durability.

• FlushPolicy::Always: Flush after every write; slowest but most durable.

• FlushPolicy::EveryBytes(n): Accumulate bytes written across update_region() calls; flush when at least n bytes have been written.

• FlushPolicy::EveryWrites(n): Flush after every n writes (calls to update_region()).

• FlushPolicy::EveryMillis(ms): Automatically flushes pending writes at the specified interval using a background thread.

Using the builder to set a policy:

use mmap_io::{MemoryMappedFile, MmapMode};
use mmap_io::flush::FlushPolicy;

let mmap = MemoryMappedFile::builder("file.bin")
    .mode(MmapMode::ReadWrite)
    .size(1_000_000)
    .flush_policy(FlushPolicy::EveryBytes(256 * 1024)) // flush every 256KB written
    .create()?;

Manual flush example:

use mmap_io::{create_mmap, update_region, flush};

let mmap = create_mmap("data.bin", 1024 * 1024)?;
update_region(&mmap, 0, b"batch1")?;
// ... more batched writes ...
flush(&mmap)?; // ensure durability now

Benchmark variants:

• update_only: No flush between writes (Manual policy).

• update_plus_flush: Explicit flush after each write.

• update_threshold: Builder sets threshold to flush periodically to measure batching behavior.

[!NOTE] On some platforms, visibility of writes without explicit flush may still occur due to OS behavior, but durability timing is best-effort without flush.

Create a file, write to it, and read back:

use mmap_io::{create_mmap, update_region, flush, load_mmap, MmapMode};

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    // Create a 1MB memory-mapped file
    let mmap = create_mmap("data.bin", 1024 * 1024)?;

    // Write data at offset 100
    update_region(&mmap, 100, b"Hello, mmap!")?;

    // Persist to disk
    flush(&mmap)?;

    // Open read-only and verify
    let ro = load_mmap("data.bin", MmapMode::ReadOnly)?;
    let slice = ro.as_slice(100, 12)?;
    assert_eq!(slice, b"Hello, mmap!");

    Ok(())
}

Memory Advise (feature = "advise")

Optimize memory access patterns:

#[cfg(feature = "advise")]
use mmap_io::{create_mmap, MmapAdvice};

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    let mmap = create_mmap("data.bin", 1024 * 1024)?;
    
    // Advise sequential access for better prefetching
    mmap.advise(0, 1024 * 1024, MmapAdvice::Sequential)?;
    
    // Process file sequentially...
    
    // Advise that we won't need this region soon
    mmap.advise(0, 512 * 1024, MmapAdvice::DontNeed)?;
    
    Ok(())
}

Iterator-Based Access (feature = "iterator")

Process files in chunks efficiently:

#[cfg(feature = "iterator")]
use mmap_io::create_mmap;

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    let mmap = create_mmap("large_file.bin", 10 * 1024 * 1024)?;
    
    // Process file in 1MB chunks
    for (i, chunk) in mmap.chunks(1024 * 1024).enumerate() {
        let data = chunk?;
        println!("Processing chunk {} with {} bytes", i, data.len());
    }
    
    // Process file page by page (optimal for OS)
    for page in mmap.pages() {
        let page_data = page?;
        // Process page...
    }
    
    Ok(())
}

Page Pre-warming (feature = "locking")

Eliminate page fault latency by pre-warming pages into memory.

#[cfg(feature = "locking")]
use mmap_io::{MemoryMappedFile, MmapMode, TouchHint};

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    // Eagerly pre-warm all pages on creation for benchmarks
    let mmap = MemoryMappedFile::builder("benchmark.bin")
        .size(1024 * 1024)
        .touch_hint(TouchHint::Eager)
        .create()?;

    // Manually pre-warm a specific range before a critical operation
    mmap.touch_pages_range(0, 512 * 1024)?;

    Ok(())
}

Note: The locking feature is currently required for this functionality as it provides the necessary ow-level memory control.

Atomic Operations (feature = "atomic")

Lock-free concurrent access:

#[cfg(feature = "atomic")]
use mmap_io::create_mmap;
use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    let mmap = create_mmap("counters.bin", 64)?;
    
    // Get atomic view of u64 at offset 0
    let counter = mmap.atomic_u64(0)?;
    counter.store(0, Ordering::SeqCst);
    
    // Increment atomically from multiple threads
    let old = counter.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
    println!("Counter was: {}", old);
    
    Ok(())
}

Memory Locking (feature = "locking")

Prevent pages from being swapped:

#[cfg(feature = "locking")]
use mmap_io::create_mmap;

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    let mmap = create_mmap("critical.bin", 4096)?;
    
    // Lock pages in memory (requires privileges)
    mmap.lock(0, 4096)?;
    
    // Critical operations that need guaranteed memory residence...
    
    // Unlock when done
    mmap.unlock(0, 4096)?;
    
    Ok(())
}

File Watching (feature = "watch")

Monitor file changes:

#[cfg(feature = "watch")]
use mmap_io::{create_mmap, ChangeEvent};

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    let mmap = create_mmap("watched.bin", 1024)?;
    
    // Set up file watcher
    let handle = mmap.watch(|event: ChangeEvent| {
        println!("File changed: {:?}", event.kind);
    })?;
    
    // File is being watched...
    // Handle is dropped when out of scope, stopping the watch
    
    Ok(())
}

Copy-on-Write Mode (feature = "cow")

Private memory views:

#[cfg(feature = "cow")]
use mmap_io::{MemoryMappedFile, MmapMode};

fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    // Open file in copy-on-write mode
    let cow_mmap = MemoryMappedFile::open_cow("shared.bin")?;
    
    // Reads see the original file content
    let data = cow_mmap.as_slice(0, 100)?;
    
    // Writes would only affect this process (when implemented)
    // Other processes see original file unchanged
    
    Ok(())
}

Async Operations (feature = "async")

Tokio-based async helpers:

#[cfg(feature = "async")]
#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    use mmap_io::manager::r#async::{create_mmap_async, copy_mmap_async};

    // Create file asynchronously
    let mmap = create_mmap_async("async.bin", 4096).await?;
    mmap.update_region(0, b"async data")?;
    mmap.flush()?;
    
    // Copy file asynchronously
    copy_mmap_async("async.bin", "copy.bin").await?;
    
    Ok(())
}

Async-Only Flushing

When using async write helpers, mmap-io enforces durability by flushing after each async write. This avoids visibility inconsistencies across platforms when awaiting async tasks.

#[cfg(feature = "async")]
#[tokio::main(flavor = "multi_thread")]
async fn main() -> Result<(), mmap_io::MmapIoError> {
    use mmap_io::MemoryMappedFile;

    let mmap = MemoryMappedFile::create_rw("data.bin", 4096)?;
    // Async write that auto-flushes under the hood
    mmap.update_region_async(128, b"ASYNC-FLUSH").await?;
    // Optional explicit async flush
    mmap.flush_async().await?;
    Ok(())
}

Contract: After await-ing update_region_async or flush_async, reopening a fresh RO mapping observes the persisted data.

Platform Parity

Flush visibility is guaranteed across OSes: after calling flush() or flush_range(), a newly opened read-only mapping will observe the persisted bytes on all supported platforms.

Examples:

• Full-file flush: both written regions are visible after flush().
• Range flush: only the flushed range is guaranteed visible; a later flush() persists remaining regions.

See parity tests in the repository that validate this contract on all platforms.

Huge Pages (feature = "hugepages")

Best-effort huge page support to reduce TLB misses and improve performance for large memory regions:

Linux: Uses a multi-tier approach for optimal huge page allocation::

1. Tier 1: Attempts an optimized mapping with immediate MADV_HUGEPAGE to encourage kernel huge page allocation.
2. Tier 2: Falls back to a standard mapping with a MADV_HUGEPAGE hint for Transparent Huge Pages (THP).
3. Tier 3: Silently falls back to regular pages if huge pages are unavailable.

Windows: Attempts to use FILE_ATTRIBUTE_LARGE_PAGES when creating files. Requires the "Lock Pages in Memory" privilege and system configuration. Falls back to normal pages if unavailable.

Other platforms: No-op (uses normal pages).

⚠️ Important: .huge_pages(true) does NOT guarantee huge pages will be used. The actual allocation depends on:

• System configuration (huge pages must be enabled)
• Available memory and fragmentation
• Kernel heuristics and available huge page pool
• Process privileges (for explicit huge page allocation)

The mapping will function correctly regardless of whether huge pages are actually used.

Usage via builder:

#[cfg(feature = "hugepages")]
use mmap_io::{MemoryMappedFile, MmapMode};

let mmap = MemoryMappedFile::builder("hp.bin")
    .mode(MmapMode::ReadWrite)
    .size(2 * 1024 * 1024) // 2MB - typical huge page size
    .huge_pages(true) // best-effort optimization
    .create()?;

Important Notes:

• Huge pages are a performance optimization hint, not a guarantee
• The mapping will function correctly regardless of whether huge pages are used
• On Linux, THP provides automatic, transparent fallback to normal pages
• Performance benefits are most noticeable with large, frequently-accessed mappings

Safety Notes

• All operations perform bounds checks.
• Unsafe blocks are limited to mapping calls and documented with SAFETY comments.
• Interior mutability uses parking_lot::RwLock for high performance.
• Avoid flushing while holding a write guard to prevent deadlocks (drop the guard first).

⚠️ Unsafe Code Disclaimer

This crate uses unsafe internally to manage raw memory mappings (mmap, VirtualAlloc, etc.) across platforms. All public APIs are designed to be memory-safe when used correctly. However:

• You must not modify the file concurrently outside of this process.
• Mapped slices are only valid as long as the underlying file and mapping stay valid.
• Behavior is undefined if you access a truncated or deleted file via a stale mapping.

We document all unsafe logic in the source and mark any footguns with caution.

---

• API Reference: A complete collection of code examples and usage details.
• Changelog: A detailed history of all project versions and updates.