Re: [PATCHv6 07/17] mm: Rework compound_head() for power-of-2 sizeof(struct page)

Usama Arif
2026-02-07T20:19:37Z

On 02/02/2026 15:56, Kiryl Shutsemau wrote:
> For tail pages, the kernel uses the 'compound_info' field to get to the
> head page. The bit 0 of the field indicates whether the page is a
> tail page, and if set, the remaining bits represent a pointer to the
> head page.
>
> For cases when size of struct page is power-of-2, change the encoding of
> compound_info to store a mask that can be applied to the virtual address
> of the tail page in order to access the head page. It is possible
> because struct page of the head page is naturally aligned with regards
> to order of the page.
>
> The significant impact of this modification is that all tail pages of
> the same order will now have identical 'compound_info', regardless of
> the compound page they are associated with. This paves the way for
> eliminating fake heads.
>
> The HugeTLB Vmemmap Optimization (HVO) creates fake heads and it is only
> applied when the sizeof(struct page) is power-of-2. Having identical
> tail pages allows the same page to be mapped into the vmemmap of all
> pages, maintaining memory savings without fake heads.
>
> If sizeof(struct page) is not power-of-2, there is no functional
> changes.
>
> Limit mask usage to HugeTLB vmemmap optimization (HVO) where it makes
> a difference. The approach with mask would work in the wider set of
> conditions, but it requires validating that struct pages are naturally
> aligned for all orders up to the MAX_FOLIO_ORDER, which can be tricky.
>
> Signed-off-by: Kiryl Shutsemau <kas@kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Muchun Song <muchun.song@linux.dev>
> Reviewed-by: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
> ---

Acked-by: Usama Arif <usamaarif642@gmail.com>

Small nit below:

> include/linux/page-flags.h | 81 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
> mm/slab.h | 16 ++++++--
> mm/util.c | 16 ++++++--
> 3 files changed, 97 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/include/linux/page-flags.h b/include/linux/page-flags.h
> index d14a17ffb55b..8f2c7fbc739b 100644
> --- a/include/linux/page-flags.h
> +++ b/include/linux/page-flags.h
> @@ -198,6 +198,29 @@ enum pageflags {
>
> #ifndef __GENERATING_BOUNDS_H
>
> +/*
> + * For tail pages, if the size of struct page is power-of-2 ->compound_info
> + * encodes the mask that converts the address of the tail page address to
> + * the head page address.
> + *
> + * Otherwise, ->compound_info has direct pointer to head pages.
> + */
> +static __always_inline bool compound_info_has_mask(void)
> +{
> + /*
> + * Limit mask usage to HugeTLB vmemmap optimization (HVO) where it
> + * makes a difference.
> + *
> + * The approach with mask would work in the wider set of conditions,
> + * but it requires validating that struct pages are naturally aligned
> + * for all orders up to the MAX_FOLIO_ORDER, which can be tricky.
> + */
> + if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP))
> + return false;
> +
> + return is_power_of_2(sizeof(struct page));
> +}
> +
> #ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP
> DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap_key);
>
> @@ -210,6 +233,10 @@ static __always_inline const struct page *page_fixed_fake_head(const struct page
> if (!static_branch_unlikely(&hugetlb_optimize_vmemmap_key))
> return page;
>
> + /* Fake heads only exists if compound_info_has_mask() is true */
> + if (!compound_info_has_mask())
> + return page;
> +
> /*
> * Only addresses aligned with PAGE_SIZE of struct page may be fake head
> * struct page. The alignment check aims to avoid access the fields (
> @@ -223,10 +250,14 @@ static __always_inline const struct page *page_fixed_fake_head(const struct page
> * because the @page is a compound page composed with at least
> * two contiguous pages.
> */
> - unsigned long head = READ_ONCE(page[1].compound_info);
> + unsigned long info = READ_ONCE(page[1].compound_info);
>
> - if (likely(head & 1))
> - return (const struct page *)(head - 1);
> + /* See set_compound_head() */
> + if (likely(info & 1)) {
> + unsigned long p = (unsigned long)page;
> +
> + return (const struct page *)(p & info);
> + }
> }
> return page;
> }
> @@ -281,11 +312,26 @@ static __always_inline int page_is_fake_head(const struct page *page)
>
> static __always_inline unsigned long _compound_head(const struct page *page)
> {
> - unsigned long head = READ_ONCE(page->compound_info);
> + unsigned long info = READ_ONCE(page->compound_info);
>
> - if (unlikely(head & 1))
> - return head - 1;
> - return (unsigned long)page_fixed_fake_head(page);
> + /* Bit 0 encodes PageTail() */
> + if (!(info & 1))
> + return (unsigned long)page_fixed_fake_head(page);
> +
> + /*
> + * If compound_info_has_mask() is false, the rest of compound_info is
> + * the pointer to the head page.
> + */
> + if (!compound_info_has_mask())
> + return info - 1;
> +
> + /*
> + * If compoun_info_has_mask() is true the rest of the info encodes

s/compoun_info_has_mask/compound_info_has_mask/