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Frank van der Linden b480cbb071 mm/page_alloc: don't increase highatomic reserve after pcp alloc
Higher order GFP_ATOMIC allocations can be served through a PCP list with
ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC set.  Such an allocation can e.g.  happen if a zone is
between the low and min watermarks, and get_page_from_freelist is retried
after the alloc_flags are relaxed.

The call to reserve_highatomic_pageblock() after such a PCP allocation
will result in an increase every single time: the page from the
(unmovable) PCP list will never have migrate type MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC,
since MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC pages do not appear on the unmovable PCP list. 
So a new pageblock is converted to MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC.

Eventually that leads to the maximum of 1% of the zone being used up by
(often mostly free) MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC pageblocks, for no good reason. 
Since this space is not available for normal allocations, this wastes
memory and will push things in to reclaim too soon.

This was observed on a system that ran a test with bursts of memory
activity, paired with GFP_ATOMIC SLUB activity.  These would lead to a new
slab being allocated with GFP_ATOMIC, sometimes hitting the
get_page_from_freelist retry path by being below the low watermark.  While
the frequency of those allocations was low, it kept adding up over time,
and the number of MIGRATE_ATOMIC pageblocks kept increasing.

If a higher order atomic allocation can be served by the unmovable PCP
list, there is probably no need yet to extend the reserves.  So, move the
check and possible extension of the highatomic reserves to the buddy case
only, and do not refill the PCP list for ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC if it's empty. 
This way, the PCP list is tried for ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC for a fast atomic
allocation.  But it will immediately fall back to rmqueue_buddy() if it's
empty.  In rmqueue_buddy(), the MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC buddy lists are tried
first (as before), and the reserves are extended only if that fails.

With this change, the test was stable.  Highatomic reserves were built up,
but to a normal level.  No highatomic failures were seen.

This is similar to the patch proposed in [1] by Zhiguo Jiang, but
re-arranged a bit.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260320173426.1831267-1-fvdl@google.com
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20231122013925.1507-1-justinjiang@vivo.com/ [1]
Fixes: 44042b4498 ("mm/page_alloc: allow high-order pages to be stored on the per-cpu lists")
Signed-off-by: Zhiguo Jiang <justinjiang@vivo.com>
Signed-off-by: Frank van der Linden <fvdl@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@kernel.org>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Zhiguo Jiang <justinjiang@vivo.com>
Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
History 2026-04-05 13:53:36 -07:00
arch mm: change to return bool for pudp_test_and_clear_young() 2026-04-05 13:53:35 -07:00
block block-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:36:18 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto crypto: testmgr - Fix stale references to aes-generic 2026-03-03 11:57:15 -08:00
Documentation Docs/mm/damon: document min_nr_regions constraint and rationale 2026-04-05 13:53:34 -07:00
drivers zram: change scan_slots to return void 2026-04-05 13:53:30 -07:00
fs mm: vmalloc: update outdated comment for renamed vread() 2026-04-05 13:53:34 -07:00
include mm: change to return bool for the MMU notifier's young flag check 2026-04-05 13:53:35 -07:00
init mm: introduce CONFIG_NUMA_MIGRATION and simplify CONFIG_MIGRATION 2026-04-05 13:53:33 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260320 2026-03-20 09:58:56 -07:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel kho: drop restriction on maximum page order 2026-04-05 13:53:24 -07:00
lib ubsan: turn off kmsan inside of ubsan instrumentation 2026-04-05 13:53:19 -07:00
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/page_alloc: don't increase highatomic reserve after pcp alloc 2026-04-05 13:53:36 -07:00
net mm: introduce a new page type for page pool in page type 2026-04-05 13:53:19 -07:00
rust mm: rename zap_page_range_single() to zap_vma_range() 2026-04-05 13:53:15 -07:00
samples drm-fixes for 7.0-rc4 2026-03-13 15:38:55 -07:00
scripts livepatch/klp-build: Fix inconsistent kernel version 2026-03-16 12:50:17 -07:00
security xen/privcmd: add boot control for restricted usage in domU 2026-03-20 12:06:01 +01:00
sound driver core: platform: use generic driver_override infrastructure 2026-03-17 20:30:57 +01:00
tools mm: abstract reading sysctl_max_map_count, and READ_ONCE() 2026-04-05 13:53:28 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt mm: change to return bool for the MMU notifier's young flag check 2026-04-05 13:53:35 -07:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.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: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.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: update email address for Muhammad Usama Anjum 2026-03-23 09:35:05 -07:00
.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 MAINTAINERS: remove Thomas Falcon from IBM ibmvnic 2026-03-05 07:35:45 -08:00
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: add mm-related procfs files to MM sections 2026-04-05 13:53:19 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.0-rc5 2026-03-22 14:42:17 -07:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -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
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


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

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


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