The patch titled Subject: mm/hugetlb: document why hugetlb uses folio_mapcount() for COW reuse decisions has been added to the -mm mm-unstable branch. Its filename is mm-hugetlb-document-why-hugetlb-uses-folio_mapcount-for-cow-reuse-decisions.patch This patch will shortly appear at https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/25-new.git/tree/patches/mm-hugetlb-document-why-hugetlb-uses-folio_mapcount-for-cow-reuse-decisions.patch This patch will later appear in the mm-unstable branch at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm Before you just go and hit "reply", please: a) Consider who else should be cc'ed b) Prefer to cc a suitable mailing list as well c) Ideally: find the original patch on the mailing list and do a reply-to-all to that, adding suitable additional cc's *** Remember to use Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst when testing your code *** The -mm tree is included into linux-next via the mm-everything branch at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm and is updated there every 2-3 working days ------------------------------------------------------ From: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: mm/hugetlb: document why hugetlb uses folio_mapcount() for COW reuse decisions Date: Thu, 2 May 2024 10:52:59 +0200 Let's document why hugetlb still uses folio_mapcount() and is prone to leaking memory between processes, for example using vmsplice() that still uses FOLL_GET. More details can be found in [1], especially around how hugetlb pages cannot really be overcommitted, and why we don't particularly care about these vmsplice() leaks for hugetlb -- in contrast to ordinary memory. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/8b42a24d-caf0-46ef-9e15-0f88d47d2f21@xxxxxxxxxx/ Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240502085259.103784-3-david@xxxxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx> Suggested-by: Peter Xu <peterx@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Muchun Song <muchun.song@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Shuah Khan <shuah@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- mm/hugetlb.c | 7 +++++++ 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+) --- a/mm/hugetlb.c~mm-hugetlb-document-why-hugetlb-uses-folio_mapcount-for-cow-reuse-decisions +++ a/mm/hugetlb.c @@ -5963,6 +5963,13 @@ retry_avoidcopy: /* * If no-one else is actually using this page, we're the exclusive * owner and can reuse this page. + * + * Note that we don't rely on the (safer) folio refcount here, because + * copying the hugetlb folio when there are unexpected (temporary) + * folio references could harm simple fork()+exit() users when + * we run out of free hugetlb folios: we would have to kill processes + * in scenarios that used to work. As a side effect, there can still + * be leaks between processes, for example, with FOLL_GET users. */ if (folio_mapcount(old_folio) == 1 && folio_test_anon(old_folio)) { if (!PageAnonExclusive(&old_folio->page)) { _ Patches currently in -mm which might be from david@xxxxxxxxxx are drivers-virt-acrn-fix-pfnmap-pte-checks-in-acrn_vm_ram_map.patch mm-pass-vma-instead-of-mm-to-follow_pte.patch mm-follow_pte-improvements.patch mm-allow-for-detecting-underflows-with-page_mapcount-again.patch mm-allow-for-detecting-underflows-with-page_mapcount-again-fix.patch mm-rmap-always-inline-anon-file-rmap-duplication-of-a-single-pte.patch mm-rmap-add-fast-path-for-small-folios-when-adding-removing-duplicating.patch mm-track-mapcount-of-large-folios-in-single-value.patch mm-improve-folio_likely_mapped_shared-using-the-mapcount-of-large-folios.patch mm-make-folio_mapcount-return-0-for-small-typed-folios.patch mm-make-folio_mapcount-return-0-for-small-typed-folios-fix.patch mm-memory-use-folio_mapcount-in-zap_present_folio_ptes.patch mm-huge_memory-use-folio_mapcount-in-zap_huge_pmd-sanity-check.patch mm-memory-failure-use-folio_mapcount-in-hwpoison_user_mappings.patch mm-page_alloc-use-folio_mapped-in-__alloc_contig_migrate_range.patch mm-migrate-use-folio_likely_mapped_shared-in-add_page_for_migration.patch sh-mm-cache-use-folio_mapped-in-copy_from_user_page.patch mm-filemap-use-folio_mapcount-in-filemap_unaccount_folio.patch mm-migrate_device-use-folio_mapcount-in-migrate_vma_check_page.patch trace-events-page_ref-trace-the-raw-page-mapcount-value.patch xtensa-mm-convert-check_tlb_entry-to-sanity-check-folios.patch mm-debug-print-only-page-mapcount-excluding-folio-entire-mapcount-in-__dump_folio.patch documentation-admin-guide-cgroup-v1-memoryrst-dont-reference-page_mapcount.patch mm-ksm-rename-get_ksm_page_flags-to-ksm_get_folio_flags.patch mm-ksm-remove-page_mapcount-usage-in-stable_tree_search.patch fs-proc-task_mmu-convert-pagemap_hugetlb_range-to-work-on-folios.patch fs-proc-task_mmu-convert-smaps_hugetlb_range-to-work-on-folios.patch mm-huge_memory-improve-split_huge_page_to_list_to_order-return-value-documentation.patch mm-huge_memory-improve-split_huge_page_to_list_to_order-return-value-documentation-v2.patch mm-khugepaged-replace-page_mapcount-check-by-folio_likely_mapped_shared.patch selftests-mm-cow-flag-vmsplice-hugetlb-tests-as-xfail.patch mm-hugetlb-document-why-hugetlb-uses-folio_mapcount-for-cow-reuse-decisions.patch