The patch titled Subject: mm: document __GFP_NOFAIL must be blockable has been added to the -mm mm-unstable branch. Its filename is mm-document-__gfp_nofail-must-be-blockable.patch This patch will shortly appear at https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/25-new.git/tree/patches/mm-document-__gfp_nofail-must-be-blockable.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: Barry Song <v-songbaohua@xxxxxxxx> Subject: mm: document __GFP_NOFAIL must be blockable Date: Sat, 31 Aug 2024 08:28:22 +1200 Non-blocking allocation with __GFP_NOFAIL is not supported and may still result in NULL pointers (if we don't return NULL, we result in busy-loop within non-sleepable contexts): static inline struct page * __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order, struct alloc_context *ac) { ... /* * Make sure that __GFP_NOFAIL request doesn't leak out and make sure * we always retry */ if (gfp_mask & __GFP_NOFAIL) { /* * All existing users of the __GFP_NOFAIL are blockable, so warn * of any new users that actually require GFP_NOWAIT */ if (WARN_ON_ONCE_GFP(!can_direct_reclaim, gfp_mask)) goto fail; ... } ... fail: warn_alloc(gfp_mask, ac->nodemask, "page allocation failure: order:%u", order); got_pg: return page; } Highlight this in the documentation of __GFP_NOFAIL so that non-mm subsystems can reject any illegal usage of __GFP_NOFAIL with GFP_ATOMIC, GFP_NOWAIT, etc. Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240830202823.21478-3-21cnbao@xxxxxxxxx Signed-off-by: Barry Song <v-songbaohua@xxxxxxxx> Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx> Reviewed-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@xxxxxx> Acked-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx> Acked-by: Davidlohr Bueso <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Christoph Lameter <cl@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: David Rientjes <rientjes@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Eugenio Pérez" <eperezma@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Hailong.Liu <hailong.liu@xxxxxxxx> Cc: Hyeonggon Yoo <42.hyeyoo@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Jason Wang <jasowang@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@xxxxxxx> Cc: Kees Cook <kees@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Maxime Coquelin <maxime.coquelin@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Pekka Enberg <penberg@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Uladzislau Rezki (Sony) <urezki@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Xuan Zhuo <xuanzhuo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Xie Yongji <xieyongji@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Yafang Shao <laoar.shao@xxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- include/linux/gfp_types.h | 5 ++++- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) --- a/include/linux/gfp_types.h~mm-document-__gfp_nofail-must-be-blockable +++ a/include/linux/gfp_types.h @@ -215,7 +215,8 @@ enum { * the caller still has to check for failures) while costly requests try to be * not disruptive and back off even without invoking the OOM killer. * The following three modifiers might be used to override some of these - * implicit rules. + * implicit rules. Please note that all of them must be used along with + * %__GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM flag. * * %__GFP_NORETRY: The VM implementation will try only very lightweight * memory direct reclaim to get some memory under memory pressure (thus @@ -246,6 +247,8 @@ enum { * cannot handle allocation failures. The allocation could block * indefinitely but will never return with failure. Testing for * failure is pointless. + * It _must_ be blockable and used together with __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM. + * It should _never_ be used in non-sleepable contexts. * New users should be evaluated carefully (and the flag should be * used only when there is no reasonable failure policy) but it is * definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode endless _ Patches currently in -mm which might be from v-songbaohua@xxxxxxxx are mm-extend-usage-parameter-so-that-cluster_swap_free_nr-can-be-reused.patch mm-swap-add-nr-argument-in-swapcache_prepare-and-swapcache_clear-to-support-large-folios.patch mm-swap-add-nr-argument-in-swapcache_prepare-and-swapcache_clear-to-support-large-folios-fix.patch mm-rename-instances-of-swap_info_struct-to-meaningful-si.patch mm-attempt-to-batch-free-swap-entries-for-zap_pte_range.patch mm-attempt-to-batch-free-swap-entries-for-zap_pte_range-fix.patch mm-override-mthp-enabled-defaults-at-kernel-cmdline-fix.patch mm-count-the-number-of-anonymous-thps-per-size.patch mm-count-the-number-of-partially-mapped-anonymous-thps-per-size.patch mm-add-nr-argument-in-mem_cgroup_swapin_uncharge_swap-helper-to-support-large-folios.patch mm-document-__gfp_nofail-must-be-blockable.patch mm-warn-about-illegal-__gfp_nofail-usage-in-a-more-appropriate-location-and-manner.patch