[PATCH v2] PM: hibernate: call preallocate_image after freeze prepare

From: Matthew Leach

Date: Thu Mar 26 2026 - 07:38:45 EST


Certain drivers release resources (pinned pages, etc.) into system
memory during the prepare freeze PM op, making them swappable.
Currently, hibernate_preallocate_memory is called before prepare freeze,
so those drivers have no opportunity to release resources first. If a
driver is holding a large amount of unswappable system RAM, this can
cause hibernate_preallocate_memory to fail.

Move the call to hibernate_preallocate_memory after prepare freeze.
According to the documentation for the prepare callback, devices should
be left in a usable state, so storage drivers should still be able to
service I/O requests. This allows drivers to release unswappable
resources prior to preallocation, so they can be swapped out through
hibernate_preallocate_memory's reclaim path. Also remove
shrink_shmem_memory since hibernate_preallocate_memory will have
reclaimed enough memory for the hibernation image.

Signed-off-by: Matthew Leach <matthew.leach@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v2:
- Removed shrink_shmem_memory.
- Fixed missing call to dpm_prepare in error path.
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260321-hibernation-fixes-v1-1-5fe9637b6ff9@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
kernel/power/hibernate.c | 46 +++++++++-------------------------------------
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/power/hibernate.c b/kernel/power/hibernate.c
index af8d07bafe02..39b0a8ea4024 100644
--- a/kernel/power/hibernate.c
+++ b/kernel/power/hibernate.c
@@ -392,23 +392,6 @@ static int create_image(int platform_mode)
return error;
}

-static void shrink_shmem_memory(void)
-{
- struct sysinfo info;
- unsigned long nr_shmem_pages, nr_freed_pages;
-
- si_meminfo(&info);
- nr_shmem_pages = info.sharedram; /* current page count used for shmem */
- /*
- * The intent is to reclaim all shmem pages. Though shrink_all_memory() can
- * only reclaim about half of them, it's enough for creating the hibernation
- * image.
- */
- nr_freed_pages = shrink_all_memory(nr_shmem_pages);
- pr_debug("requested to reclaim %lu shmem pages, actually freed %lu pages\n",
- nr_shmem_pages, nr_freed_pages);
-}
-
/**
* hibernation_snapshot - Quiesce devices and create a hibernation image.
* @platform_mode: If set, use platform driver to prepare for the transition.
@@ -425,14 +408,9 @@ int hibernation_snapshot(int platform_mode)
if (error)
goto Close;

- /* Preallocate image memory before shutting down devices. */
- error = hibernate_preallocate_memory();
- if (error)
- goto Close;
-
error = freeze_kernel_threads();
if (error)
- goto Cleanup;
+ goto Close;

if (hibernation_test(TEST_FREEZER)) {

@@ -441,23 +419,17 @@ int hibernation_snapshot(int platform_mode)
* successful freezer test.
*/
freezer_test_done = true;
- goto Thaw;
+ goto ThawKThreads;
}

error = dpm_prepare(PMSG_FREEZE);
- if (error) {
- dpm_complete(PMSG_RECOVER);
+ if (error)
goto Thaw;
- }

- /*
- * Device drivers may move lots of data to shmem in dpm_prepare(). The shmem
- * pages will use lots of system memory, causing hibernation image creation
- * fail due to insufficient free memory.
- * This call is to force flush the shmem pages to swap disk and reclaim
- * the system memory so that image creation can succeed.
- */
- shrink_shmem_memory();
+ /* Preallocate image memory before shutting down devices. */
+ error = hibernate_preallocate_memory();
+ if (error)
+ goto Thaw;

console_suspend_all();
pm_restrict_gfp_mask();
@@ -493,9 +465,9 @@ int hibernation_snapshot(int platform_mode)
return error;

Thaw:
+ dpm_complete(PMSG_RECOVER);
+ ThawKThreads:
thaw_kernel_threads();
- Cleanup:
- swsusp_free();
goto Close;
}


---
base-commit: f338e77383789c0cae23ca3d48adcc5e9e137e3c
change-id: 20260321-hibernation-fixes-69bca2ee5b65

Best regards,
--
Matt