Re: [RFC][Qusetion] the value of cleared_(ptes|pmds|puds|p4ds) in struct mmu_gather

[Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>]

On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 12:30:50PM +0800, Zhenyu Ye wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> commit a6d60245 "Track which levels of the page tables have been cleared"
> added cleared_(ptes|pmds|puds|p4ds) in struct mmu_gather, and the values
> of them are set in some places. For example:
> 
> In include/asm-generic/tlb.h, pte_free_tlb() set the tlb->cleared_pmds:
> ---8<---
> #ifndef pte_free_tlb
> #define pte_free_tlb(tlb, ptep, address)			\
> 	do {							\
> 		__tlb_adjust_range(tlb, address, PAGE_SIZE);	\
> 		tlb->freed_tables = 1;				\
> 		tlb->cleared_pmds = 1;				\
> 		__pte_free_tlb(tlb, ptep, address);		\
> 	} while (0)
> #endif
> ---8<---
> 
> 
> However, in arch/s390/include/asm/tlb.h, pte_free_tlb() set the tlb->cleared_ptes:
> ---8<---
> static inline void pte_free_tlb(struct mmu_gather *tlb, pgtable_t pte,
>                                 unsigned long address)
> {
> 	__tlb_adjust_range(tlb, address, PAGE_SIZE);
> 	tlb->mm->context.flush_mm = 1;
> 	tlb->freed_tables = 1;
> 	tlb->cleared_ptes = 1;
> 	/*
> 	 * page_table_free_rcu takes care of the allocation bit masks
> 	 * of the 2K table fragments in the 4K page table page,
> 	 * then calls tlb_remove_table.
> 	 */
> 	page_table_free_rcu(tlb, (unsigned long *) pte, address);
> }
> ---8<---
> 
> 
> In my view, the cleared_(ptes|pmds|puds) and (pte|pmd|pud)_free_tlb
> correspond one-to-one.  So we should set cleared_ptes in pte_free_tlb(),
> then use it when needed.

So pte_free_tlb() clears a table of PTE entries, or a PMD level entity,
also see free_pte_range(). So the generic code makes sense to me. The
PTE level invalidations will have happened on tlb_remove_tlb_entry().

> I'm very confused about this. Which is wrong? Or is there something
> I understand wrong?

I agree the s390 case is puzzling, Martin does s390 need a PTE level
invalidate for removing a PTE table or was this a mistake?