[PATCH v5 1/3] mm/page_owner: add print_mode filter

From: Zhen Ni

Date: Thu May 07 2026 - 03:02:43 EST


Add a print_mode filter to page_owner that allows users to choose between
printing full stack traces or only stack handles, significantly reducing
output size for debugging and analysis.

The filter provides a string-based interface under
/sys/kernel/debug/page_owner_filter/:
- Reading shows the current mode with [] brackets around active option
- Writing accepts "full_stack" or "stack_handle" strings

The default full_stack mode maintains backward compatibility with existing
usage, displaying complete stack traces for each page allocation.

The stack_handle mode dramatically reduces log size by showing only
the handle number instead of the full stack trace. The mapping from
handles to actual stack traces can be obtained via the
show_stacks_handles interface.

Example usage:
# echo stack_handle > /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner_filter/print_mode
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner_filter/print_mode
full_stack [stack_handle]
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/page_owner
Page allocated via order 0, migratetype Unmovable, gfp_mask 0x1100ca,
pid 1, tgid 1 (systemd), ts 123456789 ns
PFN 0x1000 type Unmovable Block 1 type Unmovable
Flags 0x3fffe800000084(referenced|lru|active|private|node=0|zone=1)
handle: 17432583
...

Signed-off-by: Zhen Ni <zhen.ni@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

Changes in v5:
- No code changes

Changes in v4:
- Change from numeric (0/1) to string-based interface ("full_stack"/"stack_handle")
- Merge infrastructure patch into this patch

Changes in v3:
- No code changes

Changes in v2:
- Renamed from 'compact mode' to 'print_mode' for better clarity
- Use enum values (0=full_stack, 1=stack_handle) instead of boolean
- Update debugfs filename from 'compact' to 'print_mode'
---
mm/page_owner.c | 93 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 91 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/page_owner.c b/mm/page_owner.c
index 8178e0be557f..28766c854d02 100644
--- a/mm/page_owner.c
+++ b/mm/page_owner.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
#include <linux/debugfs.h>
+#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/mm.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/uaccess.h>
@@ -54,6 +55,24 @@ struct stack_print_ctx {
u8 flags;
};

+enum page_owner_print_mode {
+ PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_FULL_STACK,
+ PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_STACK_HANDLE,
+};
+
+static const char * const page_owner_print_mode_strings[] = {
+ [PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_FULL_STACK] = "full_stack",
+ [PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_STACK_HANDLE] = "stack_handle",
+};
+
+struct page_owner_filter {
+ enum page_owner_print_mode print_mode;
+};
+
+static struct page_owner_filter owner_filter = {
+ .print_mode = PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_FULL_STACK,
+};
+
static bool page_owner_enabled __initdata;
DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(page_owner_inited);

@@ -575,7 +594,11 @@ print_page_owner(char __user *buf, size_t count, unsigned long pfn,
migratetype_names[pageblock_mt],
&page->flags);

- ret += stack_depot_snprint(handle, kbuf + ret, count - ret, 0);
+ if (READ_ONCE(owner_filter.print_mode) == PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_STACK_HANDLE) {
+ ret += scnprintf(kbuf + ret, count - ret,
+ "handle: %d\n", handle);
+ } else
+ ret += stack_depot_snprint(handle, kbuf + ret, count - ret, 0);
if (ret >= count)
goto err;

@@ -970,10 +993,71 @@ static int page_owner_threshold_set(void *data, u64 val)
DEFINE_SIMPLE_ATTRIBUTE(page_owner_threshold_fops, &page_owner_threshold_get,
&page_owner_threshold_set, "%llu");

+static ssize_t print_mode_read(struct file *file, char __user *buf,
+ size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
+{
+ const char *output;
+ int mode;
+
+ mode = READ_ONCE(owner_filter.print_mode);
+
+ if (mode == PAGE_OWNER_PRINT_FULL_STACK)
+ output = "[full_stack] stack_handle\n";
+ else
+ output = "full_stack [stack_handle]\n";
+
+ return simple_read_from_buffer(buf, count, ppos, output, strlen(output));
+}
+
+static ssize_t print_mode_write(struct file *file,
+ const char __user *buf,
+ size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
+{
+ char *kbuf;
+ int mode;
+ int ret = count;
+
+ /*
+ * Limit input size. Maximum valid input is "stack_handle" (12 chars)
+ * plus newline and null terminator. Use 32 bytes as a reasonable limit.
+ */
+ if (count > 32)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ kbuf = kmalloc(count + 1, GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!kbuf)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+
+ if (strncpy_from_user(kbuf, buf, count) < 0) {
+ ret = -EFAULT;
+ goto out_free;
+ }
+ kbuf[count] = '\0';
+
+ mode = sysfs_match_string(page_owner_print_mode_strings, kbuf);
+ if (mode < 0) {
+ ret = -EINVAL;
+ goto out_free;
+ }
+
+ WRITE_ONCE(owner_filter.print_mode, mode);
+
+out_free:
+ kfree(kbuf);
+ return ret;
+}
+
+static const struct file_operations page_owner_print_mode_fops = {
+ .owner = THIS_MODULE,
+ .read = print_mode_read,
+ .write = print_mode_write,
+ .llseek = default_llseek,
+};
+

static int __init pageowner_init(void)
{
- struct dentry *dir;
+ struct dentry *dir, *filter_dir;

if (!static_branch_unlikely(&page_owner_inited)) {
pr_info("page_owner is disabled\n");
@@ -981,6 +1065,11 @@ static int __init pageowner_init(void)
}

debugfs_create_file("page_owner", 0400, NULL, NULL, &page_owner_fops);
+
+ filter_dir = debugfs_create_dir("page_owner_filter", NULL);
+ debugfs_create_file("print_mode", 0600, filter_dir, NULL,
+ &page_owner_print_mode_fops);
+
dir = debugfs_create_dir("page_owner_stacks", NULL);
debugfs_create_file("show_stacks", 0400, dir,
(void *)(STACK_PRINT_FLAG_STACK |
--
2.20.1