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Harry Yoo 70089d0188 mm/slab: save memory by allocating slabobj_ext array from leftover
The leftover space in a slab is always smaller than s->size, and
kmem caches for large objects that are not power-of-two sizes tend to have
a greater amount of leftover space per slab. In some cases, the leftover
space is larger than the size of the slabobj_ext array for the slab.

An excellent example of such a cache is ext4_inode_cache. On my system,
the object size is 1136, with a preferred order of 3, 28 objects per slab,
and 960 bytes of leftover space per slab.

Since the size of the slabobj_ext array is only 224 bytes (w/o mem
profiling) or 448 bytes (w/ mem profiling) per slab, the entire array
fits within the leftover space.

Allocate the slabobj_exts array from this unused space instead of using
kcalloc() when it is large enough. The array is allocated from unused
space only when creating new slabs, and it doesn't try to utilize unused
space if alloc_slab_obj_exts() is called after slab creation because
implementing lazy allocation involves more expensive synchronization.

The implementation and evaluation of lazy allocation from unused space
is left as future-work. As pointed by Vlastimil Babka [1], it could be
beneficial when a slab cache without SLAB_ACCOUNT can be created, and
some of the allocations from the cache use __GFP_ACCOUNT. For example,
xarray does that.

To avoid unnecessary overhead when MEMCG (with SLAB_ACCOUNT) and
MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING are not used for the cache, allocate the slabobj_ext
array only when either of them is enabled on slab allocation.

[ MEMCG=y, MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING=n ]

Before patch (creating ~2.64M directories on ext4):
  Slab:            4747880 kB
  SReclaimable:    4169652 kB
  SUnreclaim:       578228 kB

After patch (creating ~2.64M directories on ext4):
  Slab:            4724020 kB
  SReclaimable:    4169188 kB
  SUnreclaim:       554832 kB (-22.84 MiB)

Enjoy the memory savings!

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/48029aab-20ea-4d90-bfd1-255592b2018e@suse.cz [1]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-8-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
History 2026-02-04 10:05:35 +01:00
arch Disable GCOV instrumentation in the SEV noinstr.c collection 2026-01-11 07:19:43 -10:00
block block-6.19-20260109 2026-01-09 15:42:46 -10:00
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 treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
drivers Char/Misc driver fixes for 6.19-rc5 2026-01-11 07:27:44 -10:00
fs ext4: specify the free pointer offset for ext4_inode_cache 2026-02-04 10:05:35 +01:00
include mm/slab: allow specifying free pointer offset when using constructor 2026-02-04 10:05:35 +01:00
init Significant patch series in this pull request: 2025-12-06 14:01:20 -08:00
io_uring io_uring-6.19-20260109 2026-01-09 15:21:15 -10:00
ipc Significant patch series in this pull request: 2025-12-06 14:01:20 -08:00
kernel Fix a crash in sched_mm_cid_after_execve(). 2026-01-11 07:11:53 -10:00
lib Crypto library fixes for v6.19-rc5 2026-01-11 15:07:56 -10:00
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 mm/slab: save memory by allocating slabobj_ext array from leftover 2026-02-04 10:05:35 +01:00
net A bunch of libceph fixes split evenly between memory safety and 2026-01-09 15:05:19 -10:00
rust Driver core fixes for 6.19-rc5 2026-01-10 15:04:04 -10:00
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 kernel/kexec: change the prototype of kimage_map_segment() 2025-12-23 11:23:13 -08:00
sound ALSA: hda/realtek: add HP Laptop 15s-eq1xxx mute LED quirk 2026-01-02 14:34:23 +01:00
tools treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
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 treewide: Update email address 2026-01-11 06:09:11 -10:00
.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 Crypto library fixes for v6.19-rc5 2026-01-11 15:07:56 -10:00
Makefile Linux 6.19-rc5 2026-01-11 17:03:14 -10:00
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