Re: [PATCH v2 19/37] mm/gup: remove record_subpages()

Lorenzo Stoakes
2025-09-08T12:26:21Z

On Sat, Sep 06, 2025 at 08:56:48AM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> On 06.09.25 03:05, John Hubbard wrote:
> >
> > Probably a similar sentiment as Lorenzo here...the above diffs make the code
> > *worse* to read. In fact, I recall adding record_subpages() here long ago,
> > specifically to help clarify what was going on.
>
> Well, there is a lot I dislike about record_subpages() to go back there.
> Starting with "as Willy keeps explaining, the concept of subpages do
> not exist and ending with "why do we fill out the array even on failure".

Yes

>
> :)
>
> >
> > Now it's been returned to it's original, cryptic form.
> >
>
> The code in the caller was so uncryptic that both me and Lorenzo missed
> that magical addition. :P

:'(

>
> > Just my take on it, for whatever that's worth. :)
>
> As always, appreciated.
>
> I could of course keep the simple loop in some "record_folio_pages"
> function and clean up what I dislike about record_subpages().
>
> But I much rather want the call chain to be cleaned up instead, if possible.
>
>
> Roughly, what I am thinking (limiting it to pte+pmd case) about is the following:

I cannot get the below to apply even with the original patch here applied + fix.

It looks like (in mm-new :) commit e73f43a66d5f ("mm/gup: remove dead pgmap
refcounting code") by Alastair has conflicted here, but even then I can't make
it apply, with/without your fix...!

>
>
> From d6d6d21dbf435d8030782a627175e36e6c7b2dfb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2025 08:33:42 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] tmp
>
> Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
> ---
> mm/gup.c | 79 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------------
> 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 43 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/gup.c b/mm/gup.c
> index 22420f2069ee1..98907ead749c0 100644
> --- a/mm/gup.c
> +++ b/mm/gup.c
> @@ -2845,12 +2845,11 @@ static void __maybe_unused gup_fast_undo_dev_pagemap(int *nr, int nr_start,
> * also check pmd here to make sure pmd doesn't change (corresponds to
> * pmdp_collapse_flush() in the THP collapse code path).
> */
> -static int gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> - unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages,
> - int *nr)
> +static unsigned long gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> + unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages)
> {
> struct dev_pagemap *pgmap = NULL;
> - int ret = 0;
> + unsigned long nr_pages = 0;
> pte_t *ptep, *ptem;
> ptem = ptep = pte_offset_map(&pmd, addr);
> @@ -2908,24 +2907,20 @@ static int gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> * details.
> */
> if (flags & FOLL_PIN) {
> - ret = arch_make_folio_accessible(folio);
> - if (ret) {
> + if (arch_make_folio_accessible(folio)) {
> gup_put_folio(folio, 1, flags);
> goto pte_unmap;
> }
> }
> folio_set_referenced(folio);
> - pages[*nr] = page;
> - (*nr)++;
> + pages[nr_pages++] = page;
> } while (ptep++, addr += PAGE_SIZE, addr != end);
> - ret = 1;
> -
> pte_unmap:
> if (pgmap)
> put_dev_pagemap(pgmap);
> pte_unmap(ptem);
> - return ret;
> + return nr_pages;
> }
> #else
> @@ -2938,21 +2933,24 @@ static int gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> * get_user_pages_fast_only implementation that can pin pages. Thus it's still
> * useful to have gup_fast_pmd_leaf even if we can't operate on ptes.
> */
> -static int gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> - unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages,
> - int *nr)
> +static unsigned long gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> + unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages)
> {
> return 0;
> }
> #endif /* CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_PTE_SPECIAL */
> -static int gup_fast_pmd_leaf(pmd_t orig, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> - unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages,
> - int *nr)
> +static unsigned long gup_fast_pmd_leaf(pmd_t orig, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> + unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages)
> {
> + const unsigned long nr_pages = (end - addr) >> PAGE_SHIFT;
> struct page *page;
> struct folio *folio;
> - int refs;
> + unsigned long i;
> +
> + /* See gup_fast_pte_range() */
> + if (pmd_protnone(orig))
> + return 0;
> if (!pmd_access_permitted(orig, flags & FOLL_WRITE))
> return 0;
> @@ -2960,33 +2958,30 @@ static int gup_fast_pmd_leaf(pmd_t orig, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> if (pmd_special(orig))
> return 0;
> - refs = (end - addr) >> PAGE_SHIFT;
> page = pmd_page(orig) + ((addr & ~PMD_MASK) >> PAGE_SHIFT);
> - folio = try_grab_folio_fast(page, refs, flags);
> + folio = try_grab_folio_fast(page, nr_pages, flags);
> if (!folio)
> return 0;
> if (unlikely(pmd_val(orig) != pmd_val(*pmdp))) {
> - gup_put_folio(folio, refs, flags);
> + gup_put_folio(folio, nr_pages, flags);
> return 0;
> }
> if (!gup_fast_folio_allowed(folio, flags)) {
> - gup_put_folio(folio, refs, flags);
> + gup_put_folio(folio, nr_pages, flags);
> return 0;
> }
> if (!pmd_write(orig) && gup_must_unshare(NULL, flags, &folio->page)) {
> - gup_put_folio(folio, refs, flags);
> + gup_put_folio(folio, nr_pages, flags);
> return 0;
> }
> - pages += *nr;
> - *nr += refs;
> - for (; refs; refs--)
> + for (i = 0; i < nr_pages; i++)
> *(pages++) = page++;
> folio_set_referenced(folio);
> - return 1;
> + return nr_pages;
> }
> static int gup_fast_pud_leaf(pud_t orig, pud_t *pudp, unsigned long addr,
> @@ -3033,11 +3028,11 @@ static int gup_fast_pud_leaf(pud_t orig, pud_t *pudp, unsigned long addr,
> return 1;
> }
> -static int gup_fast_pmd_range(pud_t *pudp, pud_t pud, unsigned long addr,
> - unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages,
> - int *nr)
> +static unsigned long gup_fast_pmd_range(pud_t *pudp, pud_t pud, unsigned long addr,
> + unsigned long end, unsigned int flags, struct page **pages)
> {
> - unsigned long next;
> + unsigned long cur_nr_pages, next;
> + unsigned long nr_pages = 0;
> pmd_t *pmdp;
> pmdp = pmd_offset_lockless(pudp, pud, addr);
> @@ -3046,23 +3041,21 @@ static int gup_fast_pmd_range(pud_t *pudp, pud_t pud, unsigned long addr,
> next = pmd_addr_end(addr, end);
> if (!pmd_present(pmd))
> - return 0;
> + break;
> - if (unlikely(pmd_leaf(pmd))) {
> - /* See gup_fast_pte_range() */
> - if (pmd_protnone(pmd))
> - return 0;
> + if (unlikely(pmd_leaf(pmd)))
> + cur_nr_pages = gup_fast_pmd_leaf(pmd, pmdp, addr, next, flags, pages);
> + else
> + cur_nr_pages = gup_fast_pte_range(pmd, pmdp, addr, next, flags, pages);
> - if (!gup_fast_pmd_leaf(pmd, pmdp, addr, next, flags,
> - pages, nr))
> - return 0;
> + nr_pages += cur_nr_pages;
> + pages += cur_nr_pages;
> - } else if (!gup_fast_pte_range(pmd, pmdp, addr, next, flags,
> - pages, nr))
> - return 0;
> + if (nr_pages != (next - addr) >> PAGE_SIZE)
> + break;
> } while (pmdp++, addr = next, addr != end);
> - return 1;
> + return nr_pages;
> }
> static int gup_fast_pud_range(p4d_t *p4dp, p4d_t p4d, unsigned long addr,

OK I guess you intentionally left the rest as a TODO :)

So I'll wait for you to post it before reviewing in-depth.

This generally LGTM as an approach, getting rid of *nr is important that's
really horrible.

> --
> 2.50.1
>
>
>
> Oh, I might even have found a bug moving away from that questionable
> "ret==1 means success" handling in gup_fast_pte_range()? Will
> have to double-check, but likely the following is the right thing to do.
>
>
>
> From 8f48b25ef93e7ef98611fd58ec89384ad5171782 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
> Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2025 08:46:45 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] mm/gup: fix handling of errors from
> arch_make_folio_accessible() in follow_page_pte()
>
> In case we call arch_make_folio_accessible() and it fails, we would
> incorrectly return a value that is "!= 0" to the caller, indicating that
> we pinned all requested pages and that the caller can keep going.
>
> follow_page_pte() is not supposed to return error values, but instead
> 0 on failure and 1 on success.
>
> That is of course wrong, because the caller will just keep going pinning
> more pages. If we happen to pin a page afterwards, we're in trouble,
> because we essentially skipped some pages.
>
> Fixes: f28d43636d6f ("mm/gup/writeback: add callbacks for inaccessible pages")
> Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
> ---
> mm/gup.c | 3 +--
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/gup.c b/mm/gup.c
> index 22420f2069ee1..cff226ec0ee7d 100644
> --- a/mm/gup.c
> +++ b/mm/gup.c
> @@ -2908,8 +2908,7 @@ static int gup_fast_pte_range(pmd_t pmd, pmd_t *pmdp, unsigned long addr,
> * details.
> */
> if (flags & FOLL_PIN) {
> - ret = arch_make_folio_accessible(folio);
> - if (ret) {
> + if (arch_make_folio_accessible(folio)) {

Oh Lord above. Lol. Yikes.

Yeah I think your fix is valid...

> gup_put_folio(folio, 1, flags);
> goto pte_unmap;
> }
> --
> 2.50.1
>
>
> --
> Cheers
>
> David / dhildenb
>