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mm: Some cleanups for page allocator APIs

From:  Brendan Jackman <jackmanb-AT-google.com>
To:  Andrew Morton <akpm-AT-linux-foundation.org>, Vlastimil Babka <vbabka-AT-kernel.org>, Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb-AT-google.com>, Michal Hocko <mhocko-AT-suse.com>, Johannes Weiner <hannes-AT-cmpxchg.org>, Zi Yan <ziy-AT-nvidia.com>, Muchun Song <muchun.song-AT-linux.dev>, Oscar Salvador <osalvador-AT-suse.de>, David Hildenbrand <david-AT-kernel.org>, Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs-AT-kernel.org>, "Liam R. Howlett" <liam-AT-infradead.org>, Mike Rapoport <rppt-AT-kernel.org>, Matthew Brost <matthew.brost-AT-intel.com>, Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy-AT-gmail.com>, Rakie Kim <rakie.kim-AT-sk.com>, Byungchul Park <byungchul-AT-sk.com>, Ying Huang <ying.huang-AT-linux.alibaba.com>, Alistair Popple <apopple-AT-nvidia.com>, 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>, Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy-AT-linutronix.de>, Clark Williams <clrkwllms-AT-kernel.org>, Steven Rostedt <rostedt-AT-goodmis.org>
Subject:  [PATCH v3 00/16] mm: Some cleanups for page allocator APIs
Date:  Mon, 29 Jun 2026 13:11:49 +0000
Message-ID:  <20260629-alloc-trylock-v3-0-57bef0eadbc2@google.com>
Cc:  "Harry Yoo (Oracle)" <harry-AT-kernel.org>, Gregory Price <gourry-AT-gourry.net>, Johannes Weiner <hannes-AT-cmpxchg.org>, Alexei Starovoitov <ast-AT-kernel.org>, Matthew Wilcox <willy-AT-infradead.org>, Hao Ge <hao.ge-AT-linux.dev>, linux-mm-AT-kvack.org, linux-kernel-AT-vger.kernel.org, linux-rt-devel-AT-lists.linux.dev, Brendan Jackman <jackmanb-AT-google.com>, Peter Zijlstra <peterz-AT-infradead.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo-AT-redhat.com>, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme-AT-kernel.org>, Namhyung Kim <namhyung-AT-kernel.org>, Mark Rutland <mark.rutland-AT-arm.com>, Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin-AT-linux.intel.com>, Jiri Olsa <jolsa-AT-kernel.org>, Ian Rogers <irogers-AT-google.com>, Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter-AT-intel.com>, James Clark <james.clark-AT-linaro.org>, Sean Christopherson <seanjc-AT-google.com>, Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini-AT-redhat.com>, kvm-AT-vger.kernel.org, Thomas Gleixner <tglx-AT-kernel.org>, Borislav Petkov <bp-AT-alien8.de>, Dave Hansen <dave.hansen-AT-linux.intel.com>, x86-AT-kernel.org, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa-AT-zytor.com>, Robin Holt <robinmholt-AT-gmail.com>, Steve Wahl <steve.wahl-AT-hpe.com>, Arnd Bergmann <arnd-AT-arndb.de>, Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh-AT-linuxfoundation.org>, Dimitris Michailidis <dmichail-AT-fungible.com>, Andrew Lunn <andrew+netdev-AT-lunn.ch>, "David S. Miller" <davem-AT-davemloft.net>, Eric Dumazet <edumazet-AT-google.com>, Jakub Kicinski <kuba-AT-kernel.org>, Paolo Abeni <pabeni-AT-redhat.com>
Archive-link:  Article

This is based on mm-new, it depends on moving alloc_tag to mm/ [0].

[0] https://lore.kernel.org/all/aj5QBtJcphPElczI@lucifer/

Some tweaks and cleanups for page allocator entrypoint and flags. This
is motivated by preparation for __GFP_UNMAPPED [1] (which will probably
become ALLOC_UNMAPPED in its next iteration), but all this is supposed
to be an improvement to the codebase in its own right: unifying code
paths, reducing API surface, and removing GFP flags.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260320-page_alloc-unmapped-...

This started with unifying  __alloc_frozen_pages[_nolock]_noprof() and
expanded from there.

Unifying the nolock allocator entrypoint with the normal allocator
entrypoint means adding an alloc_flags argument to the later (only
exposed within mm/). This presents an opportunity to take advantage of
that arg to remove some GFP flags, if we add that alloc_flags arg a bit
more broadly to allocator entrypoints.

To distinguish between mm-internal and "public" allocator entrypoints,
it makes sense to use the __ prefix. There are already some public APIs
with that prefix. For *alloc_pages*, just removing those variants seems
like a nice cleanup anyway, so do that. For get_free_pages, the "__"
variant is the _only_ variant and it's very widely used, so it doesn't
seem worthwhile to modify that. Therefore, scope this "__" change
specifically to the *alloc_pages* API, which means we leave the
*folio_alloc* API untouched too, even though that could probably be
cleaned up if so desired.

Tested:

- KVM, mm, and BPF selftests in a QEMU VM

- kunit.py on x86_64

- For the ALLOC_NO_CODETAG bits I just booted a VM and read
  /proc/allocinfo. I confirmed that if I remove ALLOC_NO_CODETAG, the
  kernel crashes in early boot, so I was at least booting code that
  depends on this logic.

I used Google's internal version of Antigravity (AI coding harness) to
do the repetitive bits, those commits are marked with Assisted-by, the
rest is manual.

Signed-off-by: Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
---
Changes in v3:
- Created mm/page_alloc.h
- Fixed EXPORT_SYMBOL() issues
- Reworded commit messages per Sashiko's pointers
- Dropped rename of alloc_flags arg in prepare_alloc_pages() (Suren)
- Renamed gfp_to_alloc_flags_nonblocking() too after rebasing onto:
  https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260623004600.113347-1-jp.ko...
- Link to v2: https://patch.msgid.link/20260622-alloc-trylock-v2-0-31f3...

Changes in v2:
- Fixed up whitespace in nolock unification patch
- Introduced ALLOC_DEFAULT to replace literal 0 for alloc_flags
- All other patches are new
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260617-alloc-trylock-v1-1-83fd...

---
Brendan Jackman (16):
      mm/page_alloc: rename ALLOC_TRYLOCK -> ALLOC_NOLOCK
      mm/page_alloc: some renames to clarify alloc_flags scopes
      mm: name some args in a function declaration
      mm: Split out internal page_alloc.h
      mm/page_alloc: unify __alloc_frozen_pages[_nolock]_noprof()
      mm/page_alloc: relax GFP WARN in nolock allocs
      mm: move some stuff to mm/page_alloc.h
      perf/x86/intel: Use higher-level allocator API
      KVM: VMX: Use higher-level allocator API
      x86/virt: Use higher-level allocator API
      sgi-xp: Use higher-level allocator API
      net/funeth: Switch to higher-level allocator API
      mm: Remove __alloc_pages_node()
      mm: Move __alloc_pages() to mm/page_alloc.h
      mm: replace __GFP_NO_CODETAG with ALLOC_NO_CODETAG
      mm: remove the __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT flag

 Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v1/cpusets.rst  |   2 +-
 Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst       |   2 +-
 MAINTAINERS                                      |   1 +
 arch/x86/events/intel/ds.c                       |   6 +-
 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c                           |   2 +-
 arch/x86/virt/hw.c                               |   2 +-
 drivers/misc/sgi-xp/xpc_uv.c                     |   2 +-
 drivers/net/ethernet/fungible/funeth/funeth_rx.c |   2 +-
 include/linux/gfp.h                              |  54 +---
 mm/alloc_tag.c                                   |  22 +-
 mm/compaction.c                                  |   5 +-
 mm/hugetlb.c                                     |   4 +-
 mm/internal.h                                    | 253 ------------------
 mm/khugepaged.c                                  |   1 +
 mm/memory-failure.c                              |   1 +
 mm/memory_hotplug.c                              |   1 +
 mm/mempolicy.c                                   |  11 +-
 mm/mm_init.c                                     |   1 +
 mm/page_alloc.c                                  | 259 ++++++++++---------
 mm/page_alloc.h                                  | 316 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 mm/page_frag_cache.c                             |   6 +-
 mm/page_isolation.c                              |   1 +
 mm/page_owner.c                                  |   2 +-
 mm/show_mem.c                                    |   1 +
 mm/slub.c                                        |   7 +-
 mm/swap.c                                        |   1 +
 mm/vmscan.c                                      |   1 +
 mm/vmstat.c                                      |   1 +
 tools/include/linux/gfp_types.h                  |   7 -
 29 files changed, 506 insertions(+), 468 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: ec005628e9dbcef26b761fa860f264fe6e5fd690
change-id: 20260617-alloc-trylock-14ad37dab337

Best regards,
--  
Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>




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