From: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
To: David Vernet <void@manifault.com>,
Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>,
Changwoo Min <changwoo@igalia.com>,
Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>,
Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@kernel.org>,
Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>,
Martin KaFai Lau <martin.lau@linux.dev>,
Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>,
Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>, Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Emil Tsalapatis <emil@etsalapatis.com>,
sched-ext@lists.linux.dev, bpf@vger.kernel.org, x86@kernel.org,
linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, linux-mm@kvack.org,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v3 1/8] mm: Add ptep_try_set() for lockless empty-slot installs
Date: Thu, 21 May 2026 07:37:42 -1000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <8dc7b56d0f9ef4ef5b8c41f86ab97f3f@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260520235052.4180316-2-tj@kernel.org>
Add ptep_try_set(ptep, new_pte): atomically set *ptep to new_pte iff it is
currently pte_none(). Returns true on success, false if the slot was already
populated or the arch has no implementation.
The intended caller is the upcoming bpf_arena kernel-side fault recovery
path. The install runs from a page fault that can be nested under locks
held by the faulting kernel caller (e.g. a BPF program holding
raw_res_spin_lock_irqsave on its arena's spinlock), so trylock-and-retry
would A-A deadlock. Lock-free cmpxchg is the only viable option, which
constrains this helper to special kernel page tables where concurrent
writers cooperate via atomic accessors.
The generic version in <linux/pgtable.h> returns false. x86 and arm64
override with try_cmpxchg-based implementations on the underlying pteval.
Other architectures get the false stub - the callers there already fall
through to oops.
v2: Rename to ptep_try_set(). Tighten kerneldoc. (David, Alexei)
v3: Note that strict-zero cmpxchg is narrower than pte_none(). (Andrea)
Suggested-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>
Suggested-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h | 8 ++++++++
arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h | 12 ++++++++++++
include/linux/pgtable.h | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
3 files changed, 45 insertions(+)
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -1830,6 +1830,14 @@ static inline pte_t ptep_get_and_clear(s
return __ptep_get_and_clear(mm, addr, ptep);
}
+static inline bool ptep_try_set(pte_t *ptep, pte_t new_pte)
+{
+ pteval_t old = 0;
+
+ return try_cmpxchg(&pte_val(*ptep), &old, pte_val(new_pte));
+}
+#define ptep_try_set ptep_try_set
+
#define test_and_clear_young_ptes test_and_clear_young_ptes
static inline bool test_and_clear_young_ptes(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
unsigned long addr, pte_t *ptep, unsigned int nr)
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -1284,6 +1284,18 @@ static inline void ptep_set_wrprotect(st
} while (!try_cmpxchg((long *)&ptep->pte, (long *)&old_pte, *(long *)&new_pte));
}
+/*
+ * Note: strictly-zero compare is narrower than pte_none(), but the gap is
+ * harmless: _PAGE_DIRTY and _PAGE_ACCESSED aren't set on untouched kernel PTEs.
+ */
+static inline bool ptep_try_set(pte_t *ptep, pte_t new_pte)
+{
+ pte_t old_pte = __pte(0);
+
+ return try_cmpxchg((long *)&ptep->pte, (long *)&old_pte, *(long *)&new_pte);
+}
+#define ptep_try_set ptep_try_set
+
#define flush_tlb_fix_spurious_fault(vma, address, ptep) do { } while (0)
#define __HAVE_ARCH_PMDP_SET_ACCESS_FLAGS
--- a/include/linux/pgtable.h
+++ b/include/linux/pgtable.h
@@ -1036,6 +1036,31 @@ static inline void ptep_set_wrprotect(st
}
#endif
+#ifndef ptep_try_set
+/**
+ * ptep_try_set - atomically set an empty kernel PTE
+ * @ptep: page table entry
+ * @new_pte: value to install
+ *
+ * Atomically set *@ptep to @new_pte iff *@ptep is pte_none(). Return true on
+ * success, false if the slot was already populated or the arch has no
+ * implementation.
+ *
+ * For special kernel page tables only - never user page tables. The caller must
+ * prevent concurrent teardown of @ptep and must accept that other writers may
+ * race. Concurrent clearers must use ptep_get_and_clear() so racing accesses
+ * agree on the outcome.
+ *
+ * Architectures opt in by providing a cmpxchg-based override and defining
+ * ptep_try_set as an identity macro. The generic stub returns false, which is
+ * correct for callers that fall through to oops on failure.
+ */
+static inline bool ptep_try_set(pte_t *ptep, pte_t new_pte)
+{
+ return false;
+}
+#endif
+
#ifndef wrprotect_ptes
/**
* wrprotect_ptes - Write-protect PTEs that map consecutive pages of the same
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-05-21 17:37 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 24+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-05-20 23:50 [PATCHSET v3 sched_ext/for-7.2] bpf/arena: Direct kernel-side access Tejun Heo
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 1/8] mm: Add ptep_try_set() for lockless empty-slot installs Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 7:00 ` Andrea Righi
2026-05-21 17:37 ` Tejun Heo [this message]
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 2/8] bpf: Recover arena kernel faults with scratch page Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 3:16 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-21 9:42 ` Alexei Starovoitov
2026-05-21 17:39 ` Tejun Heo
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 3/8] bpf: Add sleepable variant of bpf_arena_alloc_pages for kernel callers Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 3:17 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 4/8] bpf: Add bpf_struct_ops_for_each_prog() Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 4:07 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 5/8] bpf/arena: Add bpf_arena_map_kern_vm_start() and bpf_prog_arena() Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 4:08 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 6/8] sched_ext: Require an arena for cid-form schedulers Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 4:15 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 7/8] sched_ext: Sub-allocator over kernel-claimed BPF arena pages Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 7:56 ` Andrea Righi
2026-05-21 17:22 ` Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 17:37 ` [PATCH v2 " Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 17:54 ` Andrea Righi
2026-05-20 23:50 ` [PATCH 8/8] sched_ext: Convert ops.set_cmask() to arena-resident cmask Tejun Heo
2026-05-21 4:19 ` Emil Tsalapatis
2026-05-22 1:59 ` [PATCH v3 2/8] bpf: Recover arena kernel faults with scratch page Tejun Heo
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=8dc7b56d0f9ef4ef5b8c41f86ab97f3f@kernel.org \
--to=tj@kernel.org \
--cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
--cc=andrii@kernel.org \
--cc=arighi@nvidia.com \
--cc=ast@kernel.org \
--cc=bp@alien8.de \
--cc=bpf@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=catalin.marinas@arm.com \
--cc=changwoo@igalia.com \
--cc=daniel@iogearbox.net \
--cc=dave.hansen@linux.intel.com \
--cc=david@kernel.org \
--cc=emil@etsalapatis.com \
--cc=linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-mm@kvack.org \
--cc=martin.lau@linux.dev \
--cc=memxor@gmail.com \
--cc=mingo@redhat.com \
--cc=peterz@infradead.org \
--cc=rppt@kernel.org \
--cc=sched-ext@lists.linux.dev \
--cc=tglx@kernel.org \
--cc=void@manifault.com \
--cc=will@kernel.org \
--cc=x86@kernel.org \
/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.