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mm/slab: introduce alloc_flags and slab_alloc_context

From:  "Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)" <vbabka-AT-kernel.org>
To:  Harry Yoo <harry-AT-kernel.org>
Subject:  [PATCH v2 00/16] mm/slab: introduce alloc_flags and slab_alloc_context
Date:  Wed, 10 Jun 2026 17:40:02 +0200
Message-ID:  <20260610-slab_alloc_flags-v2-0-7190909db118@kernel.org>
Cc:  Hao Li <hao.li-AT-linux.dev>, Christoph Lameter <cl-AT-gentwo.org>, David Rientjes <rientjes-AT-google.com>, Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin-AT-linux.dev>, Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb-AT-google.com>, Alexei Starovoitov <ast-AT-kernel.org>, Andrew Morton <akpm-AT-linux-foundation.org>, Johannes Weiner <hannes-AT-cmpxchg.org>, Michal Hocko <mhocko-AT-kernel.org>, Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt-AT-linux.dev>, Alexander Potapenko <glider-AT-google.com>, Marco Elver <elver-AT-google.com>, Dmitry Vyukov <dvyukov-AT-google.com>, kasan-dev-AT-googlegroups.com, linux-mm-AT-kvack.org, linux-kernel-AT-vger.kernel.org, cgroups-AT-vger.kernel.org, "Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)" <vbabka-AT-kernel.org>, stable-AT-vger.kernel.org
Archive-link:  Article

This series is based on slab/for-next. As suggested by Alexei I will
try to put it there ASAP (hence the early respin) and see if it looks
stable enough to be send in the second 7.2 merge window week.

Git: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vbabka/li...

The slab implementation currently relies on gfp flags to convey
some context information internally:

- The absence of both __GFP_RECLAIM flags is interpreted as "cannot spin
  on locks", and intended to be used by kmalloc_nolock(). But false
  positives are possible e.g. during early boot where gfp_allowed_mask
  clears __GFP_RECLAIM from all allocations. This leads to unnecessary
  allocation failures and workarounds such as fd3634312a04 ("debugobject:
  Make it work with deferred page initialization - again").

- __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT exists and takes up valuable bit in the gfp flags
  space, only to prevent recursive kmalloc() allocations for obj_ext
  arrays and sheaves.

The page allocator uses its internal alloc_flags to convey various
context information, including ALLOC_TRYLOCK (meaning "cannot spin").
This series copies that concept for the slab allocator, with its own
slab-specific internal flags:

- SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT - no extra flags (the value is 0), but explicit
- SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK - do not spin on locks (used by kmalloc_nolock())
- SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB - replacing existing 'bool new_slab' parameter
			for allocating obj_ext arrays
- SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE - replacing usage of __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT

To reduce the amount of parameters in various internal functions, we
additionally introduce slab_alloc_context (also inspired by page
allocator's alloc_context) for passing a number of existing arguments
and the new alloc_flags:

/* Structure holding extra parameters for slab allocations */
struct slab_alloc_context {
	unsigned long caller_addr;
	unsigned long orig_size;
	unsigned int alloc_flags;
	struct list_lru *lru;
};

This also replaces the existing struct partial_context.

The last necessary piece is kmalloc_flags() which can take the
alloc_flags in addition to gfp flags and is intended for the recursive
allocations of sheaves and obj_ext arrays, so that both
SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK and SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE can be communicated.
Internally it decides between kmalloc_nolock() and normal kmalloc()
depending SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK.

The rest of the series is gradually expanding the usage of both
alloc_flags and slab_alloc_context as necessary, with bits of
refactoring. Then, __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT is removed completely.

Note that some usage of gfpflags_allow_spinning() relying on absence of
__GFP_RECLAIM remains outside of slab (and page allocator) in memcg,
page_owner and stackdepot code. These can thus yield false-positive
decisions that spinning is not allowed, but should not result in
important allocations failing anymore.

Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v2:
- Due to Sashiko review, drop the idea of zeroing orig_size
  unconditionally, as it can break krealloc(). Thanks to that found a
  pre-existing bug fixed by the new Patch 1. The kfence zeroing related
  cleanup is implemented differently in Patch 2.
- Prevent nested kmalloc_nolock warnings due to added gfp flags
  (Sashiko)
- Fix a pre-existing issue with opportunistic slab allocation from the
  target node only effectively dropping __GFP_NOMEMALLOC and __GFP_RECLAIM.
  (Sashiko)
- Move kmalloc_flags() definitions to mm/slab.h (per Harry).
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260609-slab_alloc_flags-v1-0-2...

---
Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) (16):
      mm/slab: do not limit zeroing to orig_size when only red zoning is enabled
      mm/slab: do not init any kfence objects on allocation
      mm/slab: stop inlining __slab_alloc_node()
      mm/slab: introduce slab_alloc_context
      mm/slab: introduce alloc_flags and SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK
      mm/slab: add alloc_flags to slab_alloc_context
      mm/slab: replace struct partial_context with slab_alloc_context
      mm/slab: pass alloc_flags to new slab allocation
      mm/slab: pass alloc_flags through slab_post_alloc_hook() chain
      mm/slab: replace slab_alloc_node() parameters with slab_alloc_context
      mm/slab: allow kmem_cache_alloc_bulk() with any gfp flags
      mm/slab: pass slab_alloc_context to __do_kmalloc_node()
      mm/slab: allow __GFP_NOMEMALLOC and __GFP_NOWARN for kmalloc_nolock()
      mm/slab: introduce kmalloc_flags()
      mm/slab: remove __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT usage from alloc_slab_obj_exts()
      mm/slab: replace __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT with SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE for sheaves

 include/linux/slab.h |   5 +-
 mm/kfence/core.c     |   2 +-
 mm/memcontrol.c      |   5 +-
 mm/slab.h            |  29 +++-
 mm/slub.c            | 439 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
 5 files changed, 304 insertions(+), 176 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 500b2c9755301742bdbb61249511ac11a4665dae
change-id: 20260601-slab_alloc_flags-25c782b0c57c

Best regards,
--  
Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>




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