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Lorenzo Stoakes 25faccd699 mm/vma: rename VMA_LOCK_OFFSET to VM_REFCNT_EXCLUDE_READERS_FLAG
Patch series "mm: add and use vma_assert_stabilised() helper", v4.

This series first introduces a series of refactorings, intended to
significantly improve readability and abstraction of the code.

Sometimes we wish to assert that a VMA is stable, that is - the VMA cannot
be changed underneath us.  This will be the case if EITHER the VMA lock or
the mmap lock is held.

We already open-code this in two places - anon_vma_name() in mm/madvise.c
and vma_flag_set_atomic() in include/linux/mm.h.

This series adds vma_assert_stablised() which abstract this can be used in
these callsites instead.

This implementation uses lockdep where possible - that is VMA read locks -
which correctly track read lock acquisition/release via:

vma_start_read() ->
rwsem_acquire_read()

vma_start_read_locked() ->
vma_start_read_locked_nested() ->
rwsem_acquire_read()

And:

vma_end_read() ->
vma_refcount_put() ->
rwsem_release()

We don't track the VMA locks using lockdep for VMA write locks, however
these are predicated upon mmap write locks whose lockdep state we do
track, and additionally vma_assert_stabillised() asserts this check if VMA
read lock is not held, so we get lockdep coverage in this case also.

We also add extensive comments to describe what we're doing.

There's some tricky stuff around mmap locking and stabilisation races that
we have to be careful of that I describe in the patch introducing
vma_assert_stabilised().

This change also lays the foundation for future series to add this assert
in further places where we wish to make it clear that we rely upon a
stabilised VMA.

The motivation for this change was precisely this.


This patch (of 10):

The VMA_LOCK_OFFSET value encodes a flag which vma->vm_refcnt is set to in
order to indicate that a VMA is in the process of having VMA read-locks
excluded in __vma_enter_locked() (that is, first checking if there are any
VMA read locks held, and if there are, waiting on them to be released).

This happens when a VMA write lock is being established, or a VMA is being
marked detached and discovers that the VMA reference count is elevated due
to read-locks temporarily elevating the reference count only to discover a
VMA write lock is in place.

The naming does not convey any of this, so rename VMA_LOCK_OFFSET to
VM_REFCNT_EXCLUDE_READERS_FLAG (with a sensible new prefix to
differentiate from the newly introduced VMA_*_BIT flags).

Also rename VMA_REF_LIMIT to VM_REFCNT_LIMIT to make this consistent also.

Update comments to reflect this.

No functional change intended.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/817bd763e5fe35f23e01347996f9007e6eb88460.1769198904.git.lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Reviewed-by: Liam R. Howlett <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>
Cc: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: Waiman Long <longman@redhat.com>
Cc: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
History 2026-01-31 14:22:49 -08:00
arch sparc/mm: export symbols for lazy_mmu_mode KUnit tests 2026-01-31 14:22:40 -08:00
block mm/block/fs: remove laptop_mode 2026-01-20 19:24:47 -08:00
certs sign-file,extract-cert: use pkcs11 provider for OPENSSL MAJOR >= 3 2024-09-20 19:52:48 +03:00
crypto crypto: seqiv - Do not use req->iv after crypto_aead_encrypt 2025-12-19 14:47:06 +08:00
Documentation Docs/mm/damon/maintainer-profile: remove damon-tests/perf suggestion 2026-01-31 14:22:49 -08:00
drivers zram: rename init_lock to dev_lock 2026-01-31 14:22:36 -08:00
fs mm/block/fs: remove laptop_mode 2026-01-20 19:24:47 -08:00
include
init arch, mm: consolidate initialization of nodes, zones and memory map 2026-01-26 20:02:18 -08:00
io_uring io_uring-6.19-20260116 2026-01-16 20:56:56 -08:00
ipc Significant patch series in this pull request: 2025-12-06 14:01:20 -08:00
kernel Merge branch 'mm-hotfixes-stable' into mm-stable to pick up "mm/shmem, 2026-01-31 14:20:03 -08:00
lib alloc_tag: fix rw permission issue when handling boot parameter 2026-01-31 14:22:37 -08:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm
net Including fixes from bluetooth, can and IPsec. 2026-01-15 10:11:11 -08:00
rust rust: bitops: fix missing _find_* functions on 32-bit ARM 2026-01-13 22:16:39 -05:00
samples samples/ftrace: Adjust LoongArch register restore order in direct calls 2025-12-31 15:19:25 +08:00
scripts Crypto library fixes for v6.19-rc5 2026-01-11 15:07:56 -10:00
security Landlock fix for v6.19-rc6 2026-01-18 15:15:47 -08:00
sound ALSA: hda/tas2781: Add newly-released HP laptop 2026-01-15 15:04:27 +01:00
tools selftests/damon/wss_estimation: deduplicate failed samples output 2026-01-31 14:22:45 -08:00
usr initramfs: add gen_init_cpio to hostprogs unconditionally 2025-11-26 21:55:40 +01:00
virt KVM fixes for 6.19-rc1 2025-12-18 18:38:45 +01:00
.clang-format s390/pci: Fix cyclic dead-lock in zpci_zdev_put() and zpci_scan_devices() 2025-12-14 11:03:58 +01:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig .editorconfig: remove trim_trailing_whitespace option 2024-06-13 16:47:52 +02:00
.get_maintainer.ignore MAINTAINERS: remove Alyssa Rosenzweig 2025-09-18 21:17:31 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap mailmap: add entry for Viacheslav Bocharov 2026-01-26 19:03:46 -08:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS MAINTAINERS: move memory balloon infrastructure to "MEMORY MANAGEMENT - BALLOON" 2026-01-31 14:22:36 -08:00
Makefile Linux 6.19-rc6 2026-01-18 15:42:45 -08:00
README README: restructure with role-based documentation and guidelines 2025-11-29 08:40:33 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst



Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst