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Howlett" , linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org Subject: [PATCH] ksm: add merge_only_zero_pages to merge only empty anonymous pages Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2026 11:43:04 +0800 Message-Id: <20261106034304.231809-1-xu.xin@linux.dev> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.34.1 X-Mailing-List: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Owner: Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=y Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit From: "Xu Xin (vivo)" Add a new sysfs attribute, /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/merge_only_zero_pages, which, when enabled, makes ksmd merge only empty (zeroed) anonymous pages with the kernel zero page and skip the stable and unstable trees entirely for pages that carry data. The attribute requires use_zero_pages to be 1, and the two are kept consistent by symmetric constraints: it cannot be enabled while use_zero_pages is 0 (-EINVAL), and use_zero_pages cannot be turned off while it is active (-EBUSY). The new attribute can be changed at any time and is only effective for pages merged after the change. Benefits in three aspects ========================= - Memory saving: On memory-constrained systems such as Android and embedded devices, zero-filled anonymous pages are the largest source of duplicate anonymous memory. They are produced by userspace allocators: the zeroing of freshly allocated Java objects and buffers in the ART heap (new byte[]/int[], Bitmap buffers), calloc/memset in native code, and preallocated media buffers. Merging them with the kernel zero page frees a significant amount of physical memory, which matters as DRAM costs keep rising. With this enabled, we measured 100MB–300MB saving tested with several popular applications on aarch64 (Android). - CPU overhead reduction: Merging only zero pages also reduces the overhead of ksmd. A page that is not merged with the zero page carries data and can never be merged with the zero page, so there is no point in searching the stable tree or inserting it into the unstable tree for it. Skipping those tree operations for data-bearing pages reduces both the CPU time and the rhashtable memory footprint of ksmd, which makes zero page merging practical on low-resource devices where full KSM scanning would be too expensive. - Security: Finally, this shrinks the KSM side-channel attack surface: only zero pages are ever merged, so the sharing status of data-bearing pages is no longer observable through KSM timing side channels. Note ===== - Suitable for Android, embedded and low-memory devices, where zero-page deduplication is wanted but full KSM scanning is too costly, and reduced KSM side-channel exposure is desired. Many handset vendors may prefer this knob, which can be used as a default fallback policy. - Not suitable for server and virtualization workloads containing many non-zero duplicate pages, where vanilla KSM provides better memory savings. Signed-off-by: Xu Xin (vivo) #Reviewed-by: Huan Yang #Cc: Wang Xiao --- Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++- mm/ksm.c | 53 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 92 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst index c329ca747b8c..dd8ef2e4fdc2 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst @@ -128,10 +128,48 @@ use_zero_pages KSM for some workloads, for example if the checksums of pages candidate for merging match the checksum of an empty page. This setting can be changed at any time, it is only - effective for pages merged after the change. + effective for pages merged after the change. Turning this off + while ``merge_only_zero_pages`` is enabled fails with EBUSY; + clear ``merge_only_zero_pages`` first. Default: 0 (normal KSM behaviour as in earlier releases) +merge_only_zero_pages + specifies whether ksmd should only merge empty (zeroed) + anonymous pages, with the kernel zero page, and skip the stable + and unstable trees entirely for pages that carry data. This + requires ``use_zero_pages`` to be 1; it cannot be enabled while + ``use_zero_pages`` is 0, and ``use_zero_pages`` cannot be turned + off while it is enabled (the write fails with EBUSY). + + This is useful on memory-constrained systems (e.g. Android and + embedded devices) where the main source of duplicate anonymous + memory is zero-filled pages produced by userspace allocators + (for example the zeroing of freshly allocated Java objects and + buffers in the ART heap, ``calloc``/``memset`` in native code, + and pre-allocated media buffers). Merging only those pages + avoids the per-page cost of searching and inserting into the + stable and unstable trees for data-bearing pages, which reduces + the CPU and memory overhead of ksmd. It also shrinks the KSM + side-channel attack surface, since only zero pages are ever + merged and the sharing state of data-bearing pages is no longer + observable through KSM. + + - Suitable for: Android, embedded and low-memory devices, where + zero-page deduplication is wanted but full KSM scanning is + too costly, and reduced KSM side-channel exposure is desired. + Many handset vendors may prefer this knob, which can be used + as a default fallback policy. + + - Not suitable for: Server and virtualization workloads containing + many non-zero duplicate pages, where vanilla KSM provides better + memory savings. + + This setting can be changed at any time, it is only effective + for pages merged after the change. + + Default: 0 (normal KSM behaviour) + max_page_sharing Maximum sharing allowed for each KSM page. This enforces a deduplication limit to avoid high latency for virtual memory diff --git a/mm/ksm.c b/mm/ksm.c index 64f9e803b99e..a89b0f1c1065 100644 --- a/mm/ksm.c +++ b/mm/ksm.c @@ -297,6 +297,13 @@ static unsigned int zero_checksum __read_mostly; /* Whether to merge empty (zeroed) pages with actual zero pages */ static bool ksm_use_zero_pages __read_mostly; +/* + * When set, ksmd only merges empty (zeroed) anonymous pages with the kernel + * zero page and skips the stable/unstable tree entirely for pages that carry + * data. This requires ksm_use_zero_pages to be enabled. + */ +static bool ksm_merge_only_zero_pages __read_mostly; + /* Skip pages that couldn't be de-duplicated previously */ /* Default to true at least temporarily, for testing */ static bool ksm_smart_scan = true; @@ -2369,6 +2376,15 @@ static void cmp_and_merge_page(struct page *page, struct ksm_rmap_item *rmap_ite if (!try_to_merge_with_zero_page(rmap_item, page)) return; + + /* + * merge_only_zero_pages: only empty (zeroed) pages are merged, + * with the kernel zero page. A page that reached here was not + * merged with the zero page, so it carries data; skip the + * stable and unstable trees for it. + */ + if (ksm_merge_only_zero_pages) + return; } /* Start by searching for the folio in the stable tree */ @@ -3730,12 +3746,48 @@ static ssize_t use_zero_pages_store(struct kobject *kobj, if (err) return -EINVAL; + /* + * merge_only_zero_pages depends on use_zero_pages: refuse to turn + * the latter off while the former is active, so the two cannot + * silently diverge. + */ + if (!value && ksm_merge_only_zero_pages) + return -EBUSY; + ksm_use_zero_pages = value; return count; } KSM_ATTR(use_zero_pages); +static ssize_t merge_only_zero_pages_show(struct kobject *kobj, + struct kobj_attribute *attr, char *buf) +{ + return sysfs_emit(buf, "%u\n", ksm_merge_only_zero_pages); +} +static ssize_t merge_only_zero_pages_store(struct kobject *kobj, + struct kobj_attribute *attr, + const char *buf, size_t count) +{ + int err; + bool value; + + err = kstrtobool(buf, &value); + if (err) + return -EINVAL; + + if (value && !ksm_use_zero_pages) { + pr_warn_once("ksm: merge_only_zero_pages can only be enabled " + "when use_zero_pages is 1\n"); + return -EINVAL; + } + + ksm_merge_only_zero_pages = value; + + return count; +} +KSM_ATTR(merge_only_zero_pages); + static ssize_t max_page_sharing_show(struct kobject *kobj, struct kobj_attribute *attr, char *buf) { @@ -4061,6 +4113,7 @@ static struct attribute *ksm_attrs[] = { &stable_node_dups_attr.attr, &stable_node_chains_prune_millisecs_attr.attr, &use_zero_pages_attr.attr, + &merge_only_zero_pages_attr.attr, &general_profit_attr.attr, &smart_scan_attr.attr, &advisor_mode_attr.attr, -- 2.34.1