Re: [PATCH] mm/vmscan: restore allowed mask in alloc_demote_folio()

From: David Hildenbrand (Arm)

Date: Mon Mar 02 2026 - 03:01:16 EST


On 3/2/26 08:03, Bing Jiao wrote:
> In alloc_demote_folio(), mtc->nmask is set to NULL for the first
> allocation. If that succeeds, it returns without restoring mtc->nmask
> to allowed_mask. For subsequent allocations from the migrate_pages()
> batch, mtc->nmask will be NULL. If the target node then becomes full,
> the fallback allocation will use nmask = NULL, allocating from any
> node allowed by the task cpuset, which for kswapd is all nodes.
>
> To address this issue, restore the mtc->nmask to its original allowed
> nodemask after the first allocation.
>

That would be

Fixes: 320080272892 ("mm/demotion: demote pages according to allocation fallback order")

?

> Signed-off-by: Bing Jiao <bingjiao@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> mm/vmscan.c | 2 +-
> 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
> index cbffc0a27824..b42abd17aee7 100644
> --- a/mm/vmscan.c
> +++ b/mm/vmscan.c
> @@ -985,11 +985,11 @@ static struct folio *alloc_demote_folio(struct folio *src,
> mtc->nmask = NULL;
> mtc->gfp_mask |= __GFP_THISNODE;
> dst = alloc_migration_target(src, (unsigned long)mtc);
> + mtc->nmask = allowed_mask;
> if (dst)
> return dst;
>
> mtc->gfp_mask &= ~__GFP_THISNODE;
> - mtc->nmask = allowed_mask;
>
> return alloc_migration_target(src, (unsigned long)mtc);
> }
> --
> 2.53.0.473.g4a7958ca14-goog
>

Maybe we should just not touch the original mtc?

diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index de62225b381a..f07716e5389e 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -985,9 +985,9 @@ static void folio_check_dirty_writeback(struct folio *folio,
static struct folio *alloc_demote_folio(struct folio *src,
unsigned long private)
{
+ struct migration_target_control *mtc, target_nid_mtc;
struct folio *dst;
nodemask_t *allowed_mask;
- struct migration_target_control *mtc;

mtc = (struct migration_target_control *)private;

@@ -1001,15 +1001,12 @@ static struct folio *alloc_demote_folio(struct folio *src,
* a demotion of cold pages from the target memtier. This can result
* in the kernel placing hot pages in slower(lower) memory tiers.
*/
- mtc->nmask = NULL;
- mtc->gfp_mask |= __GFP_THISNODE;
- dst = alloc_migration_target(src, (unsigned long)mtc);
+ target_nid_mtc = *mtc;
+ target_nid_mtc.nmask = NULL;
+ target_nid_mtc.gfp_mask |= __GFP_THISNODE;
+ dst = alloc_migration_target(src, (unsigned long)&target_nid_mtc);
if (dst)
return dst;
-
- mtc->gfp_mask &= ~__GFP_THISNODE;
- mtc->nmask = allowed_mask;
-
return alloc_migration_target(src, (unsigned long)mtc);
}



--
Cheers,

David