From: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>, Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>,
Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com>,
"Liam R. Howlett" <liam@infradead.org>,
Nico Pache <nico.pache@linux.dev>,
Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>, Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>,
Barry Song <baohua@kernel.org>,
Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>,
Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>, Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>,
Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@ziepe.ca>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Cedric Le Goater <clg@redhat.com>,
Saravanan D <saravanand@crusoe.ai>,
stable@vger.kernel.org, "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH] mm/huge_memory: bypass THP tuneables for huge pfnmap mappings
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 20:55:57 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260827-hugepfn-allowable-orders-v1-1-94819c8807c8@kernel.org> (raw)
The sysfs THP tuneables at /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_huge_pages/ rather
confusingly only control the behaviour of THP in some instances.
They are not applicable to MADV_COLLAPSE operations, nor to DAX mappings.
Long-term, THP is predicated upon compaction being able to obtain large
folios to populate THP ranges.
However, vm_normal_folio() returns NULL for PFN map mappings, thus their
reference count is maintained by the driver, not core mm.
As a consequence, the folios are not subject to reclaim nor compaction, so
are not truly part of the THP mechanism at all.
However, since commit 5dd40721f147 ("mm: allow THP orders for PFNMAPs")
introduced the ability to establish huge PFN maps, they have been subject
to THP tuneables.
This is incorrect - if a huge PFN map is available (defined by
vma->vm_ops->huge_fault being non-NULL for a VMA_PFNMAP_BIT VMA), then it
should be mapped huge upon fault-in.
Correct this by explicitly checking for this while ensuring that smaps
continues to accurately report THPeligible statistics.
While here, abstract the entire file-backed THP check in
vma_can_map_huge_file(), with sensible separation of logic into helper
functions.
Note that drm_gem_shmem_mmap() and panthor_gem_mmap() establish huge PFN
maps of shmem folios, however they are marked unevictable in
drm_gem_get_pages(), and in any case would fail the reference check in
__remove_mapping() even if they weren't.
Failing to map huge PFN maps has resulted in significant real-world
performance degradation, see links for details.
Reported-by: Cedric Le Goater <clg@redhat.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260805055544.1568534-1-clg@redhat.com/
Reported-by: Saravanan D <saravanand@crusoe.ai>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260821070520.25759-1-saravanand@crusoe.ai/
Fixes: 5dd40721f147 ("mm: allow THP orders for PFNMAPs")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
---
mm/huge_memory.c | 86 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------
1 file changed, 64 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index afbb5974bd22..4bf7b670586d 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ unsigned long huge_anon_orders_madvise __read_mostly;
unsigned long huge_anon_orders_inherit __read_mostly;
static bool anon_orders_configured __initdata;
-static inline bool file_thp_enabled(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+static inline bool file_thp_enabled(const struct vm_area_struct *vma)
{
struct inode *inode;
@@ -118,6 +118,67 @@ static bool vma_is_special_huge(const struct vm_area_struct *vma)
return vma_test_any(vma, VMA_PFNMAP_BIT, VMA_MIXEDMAP_BIT);
}
+static bool vma_bypass_thp_tuneables_file(const struct vm_area_struct *vma,
+ enum tva_type type)
+{
+ const bool has_huge_fault = vma->vm_ops->huge_fault;
+
+ /* MADV_COLLAPSE ignores tuneables. */
+ if (type == TVA_FORCED_COLLAPSE)
+ return true;
+ /* Huge PFN mappings are uncompactable so the policy doesn't apply. */
+ if (vma_test(vma, VMA_PFNMAP_BIT) && has_huge_fault)
+ return true;
+ return false;
+}
+
+static bool vma_thp_tuneables_allow_file(vm_flags_t vm_flags)
+{
+ /* THP=always? */
+ if (hugepage_global_always())
+ return true;
+ /* THP=madvise and marked MADV_HUGEPAGE? */
+ if (hugepage_global_enabled() && (vm_flags & VM_HUGEPAGE))
+ return true;
+ return false;
+}
+
+static bool vma_check_thp_tuneables_file(const struct vm_area_struct *vma,
+ vm_flags_t vm_flags, enum tva_type type)
+{
+ return vma_bypass_thp_tuneables_file(vma, type) ||
+ vma_thp_tuneables_allow_file(vm_flags);
+}
+
+static bool vma_can_map_huge_file(const struct vm_area_struct *vma,
+ vm_flags_t vm_flags, enum tva_type type)
+{
+ const bool has_huge_fault = vma->vm_ops->huge_fault;
+
+ /*
+ * Enforce THP collapse requirements as necessary. Anonymous vmas
+ * were already handled in thp_vma_allowable_orders().
+ */
+ if (!vma_check_thp_tuneables_file(vma, vm_flags, type))
+ return false;
+
+ switch (type) {
+ case TVA_PAGEFAULT:
+ /*
+ * Trust that ->huge_fault() handlers know what they are doing
+ * in fault path.
+ */
+ return has_huge_fault;
+ case TVA_SMAPS:
+ if (has_huge_fault)
+ return true;
+ fallthrough;
+ default:
+ /* Only regular file is valid in collapse path. */
+ return file_thp_enabled(vma);
+ }
+}
+
unsigned long __thp_vma_allowable_orders(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
vm_flags_t vm_flags,
enum tva_type type,
@@ -190,27 +251,8 @@ unsigned long __thp_vma_allowable_orders(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
vma, vma_start_pgoff(vma), 0,
forced_collapse);
- if (!vma_is_anonymous(vma)) {
- /*
- * Enforce THP collapse requirements as necessary. Anonymous vmas
- * were already handled in thp_vma_allowable_orders().
- */
- if (!forced_collapse &&
- (!hugepage_global_enabled() || (!(vm_flags & VM_HUGEPAGE) &&
- !hugepage_global_always())))
- return 0;
-
- /*
- * Trust that ->huge_fault() handlers know what they are doing
- * in fault path.
- */
- if (((in_pf || smaps)) && vma->vm_ops->huge_fault)
- return orders;
- /* Only regular file is valid in collapse path */
- if (((!in_pf || smaps)) && file_thp_enabled(vma))
- return orders;
- return 0;
- }
+ if (!vma_is_anonymous(vma))
+ return vma_can_map_huge_file(vma, vm_flags, type) ? orders : 0;
if (vma_is_temporary_stack(vma))
return 0;
---
base-commit: 234e77148199ae43b83a0a03a3f481e03460a286
change-id: 20260827-hugepfn-allowable-orders-ff323f85fc57
Best regards,
--
Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
next reply other threads:[~2026-08-27 19:56 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-08-27 19:55 Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) [this message]
2026-08-28 2:52 ` [PATCH] mm/huge_memory: bypass THP tuneables for huge pfnmap mappings Zi Yan
2026-08-28 7:11 ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-08-28 4:47 ` Lance Yang
2026-08-28 16:46 ` Saravanan D
2026-08-28 17:20 ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-08-29 0:24 ` SJ Park
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260827-hugepfn-allowable-orders-v1-1-94819c8807c8@kernel.org \
--to=ljs@kernel.org \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=baohua@kernel.org \
--cc=baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com \
--cc=clg@redhat.com \
--cc=david@kernel.org \
--cc=dev.jain@arm.com \
--cc=jgg@ziepe.ca \
--cc=lance.yang@linux.dev \
--cc=liam@infradead.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
--cc=nico.pache@linux.dev \
--cc=peterx@redhat.com \
--cc=ryan.roberts@arm.com \
--cc=saravanand@crusoe.ai \
--cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=usama.arif@linux.dev \
--cc=ziy@nvidia.com \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.