Re: [PATCH v4 1/7] mm/zone_device: Add order argument to folio_free callback

Zi Yan
2026-01-12T00:51:48Z

On 11 Jan 2026, at 19:19, Balbir Singh wrote:

> On 1/12/26 08:35, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
>> On Sun, Jan 11, 2026 at 09:55:40PM +0100, Francois Dugast wrote:
>>> The core MM splits the folio before calling folio_free, restoring the
>>> zone pages associated with the folio to an initialized state (e.g.,
>>> non-compound, pgmap valid, etc...). The order argument represents the
>>> folio’s order prior to the split which can be used driver side to know
>>> how many pages are being freed.
>>
>> This really feels like the wrong way to fix this problem.
>>

Hi Matthew,

I think the wording is confusing, since the actual issue is that:

1. zone_device_page_init() calls prep_compound_page() to form a large folio,
2. but free_zone_device_folio() never reverse the course,
3. the undo of prep_compound_page() in free_zone_device_folio() needs to
be done before driver callback ->folio_free(), since once ->folio_free()
is called, the folio can be reallocated immediately,
4. after the undo of prep_compound_page(), folio_order() can no longer provide
the original order information, thus, folio_free() needs that for proper
device side ref manipulation.

So this is not used for "split" but undo of prep_compound_page(). It might
look like a split to non core MM people, since it changes a large folio
to a bunch of base pages. BTW, core MM has no compound_page_dctor() but
open codes it in free_pages_prepare() by resetting page flags, page->mapping,
and so on. So it might be why the undo prep_compound_page() is missed
by non core MM people.

>
> This stems from a special requirement, freeing is done in two phases
>
> 1. Free the folio -> inform the driver (which implies freeing the backing device memory)
> 2. Return the folio back, split it back to single order folios

Hi Balbir,

Please refrain from using "split" here, since it confuses MM people. A folio
is split when it is still in use, but in this case, the folio has been freed
and needs to be restored to "free page" state.

>
> The current code does not do 2. 1 followed by 2 does not work for
> Francois since the backing memory can get reused before we reach step 2.
> The proposed patch does 2 followed 1, but doing 2 means we've lost the
> folio order and thus the old order is passed in. Although, I wonder if the
> backing folio's zone_device_data can be used to encode any order information
> about the device side allocation.
>
> @Francois, I hope I did not miss anything in the explanation above.
>
>> I think someone from the graphics side really needs to take the lead on
>> understanding what the MM is doing (both currently and in the future).
>> I'm happy to work with you, but it feels like there's a lot of churn right
>> now because there's a lot of people working on this without understanding
>> the MM side of things (and conversely, I don't think (m)any people on the
>> MM side really understand what graphics cards are trying to accomplish).
>>
>
> I suspect you are referring to folio specialization and/or downsizing?
>
>> Who is that going to be? I'm happy to get on the phone with someone.
>
> Happy to work with you, but I am not the authority on graphics, I can speak
> to zone device folios. I suspect we'd need to speak to more than one person.
>

--
Best Regards,
Yan, Zi