[PATCH] mm/pagewalk: honor action in pgd_entry and p4d_entry

From: Cao Ruichuang

Date: Tue Apr 14 2026 - 01:20:52 EST


walk_pud_range() and walk_pmd_range() reset walk->action to ACTION_SUBTREE and honor ACTION_CONTINUE/ACTION_AGAIN after invoking their callbacks, but walk_pgd_range() and walk_p4d_range() do not.

That leaves the top levels with inconsistent callback semantics. In particular, ptdump sets ACTION_CONTINUE from pgd_entry() and p4d_entry() for leaf entries, but the generic walker still descends into lower levels instead of skipping the subtree.

Initialize walk->action before calling pgd_entry() and p4d_entry(), and handle ACTION_CONTINUE and ACTION_AGAIN afterwards just like the lower page-table levels do. Also update the action comment to reflect that it applies to pgd_entry() and p4d_entry() as well.
---
include/linux/pagewalk.h | 4 ++--
mm/pagewalk.c | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/pagewalk.h b/include/linux/pagewalk.h
index 88e18615dd7..d3f84781792 100644
--- a/include/linux/pagewalk.h
+++ b/include/linux/pagewalk.h
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ struct mm_walk_ops {
};

/*
- * Action for pud_entry / pmd_entry callbacks.
- * ACTION_SUBTREE is the default
+ * Action for pgd_entry / p4d_entry / pud_entry / pmd_entry callbacks.
+ * ACTION_SUBTREE is the default.
*/
enum page_walk_action {
/* Descend to next level, splitting huge pages if needed and possible */
diff --git a/mm/pagewalk.c b/mm/pagewalk.c
index 4e7bcd975c5..4268e08eabb 100644
--- a/mm/pagewalk.c
+++ b/mm/pagewalk.c
@@ -261,6 +261,7 @@ static int walk_p4d_range(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,

p4d = p4d_offset(pgd, addr);
do {
+again:
next = p4d_addr_end(addr, end);
if (p4d_none_or_clear_bad(p4d)) {
if (has_install)
@@ -272,11 +273,20 @@ static int walk_p4d_range(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,
if (!has_install)
continue;
}
+
+ walk->action = ACTION_SUBTREE;
+
if (ops->p4d_entry) {
err = ops->p4d_entry(p4d, addr, next, walk);
if (err)
break;
}
+
+ if (walk->action == ACTION_AGAIN)
+ goto again;
+ if (walk->action == ACTION_CONTINUE)
+ continue;
+
if (has_handler || has_install)
err = walk_pud_range(p4d, addr, next, walk);
if (err)
@@ -302,6 +312,7 @@ static int walk_pgd_range(unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,
else
pgd = pgd_offset(walk->mm, addr);
do {
+again:
next = pgd_addr_end(addr, end);
if (pgd_none_or_clear_bad(pgd)) {
if (has_install)
@@ -313,11 +324,20 @@ static int walk_pgd_range(unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,
if (!has_install)
continue;
}
+
+ walk->action = ACTION_SUBTREE;
+
if (ops->pgd_entry) {
err = ops->pgd_entry(pgd, addr, next, walk);
if (err)
break;
}
+
+ if (walk->action == ACTION_AGAIN)
+ goto again;
+ if (walk->action == ACTION_CONTINUE)
+ continue;
+
if (has_handler || has_install)
err = walk_p4d_range(pgd, addr, next, walk);
if (err)

base-commit: e39f5a33eec1a4ea03358d82e861d6bb0a426b17
--
2.39.5 (Apple Git-154)