Re: [PATCH v2] mm/filemap: fix page_cache_prev_miss() when no hole is found

From: Jan Kara

Date: Wed May 13 2026 - 03:54:47 EST


On Tue 12-05-26 16:45:59, Tal Zussman wrote:
> page_cache_prev_miss() is documented to return a value outside the
> searched range when no gap is found. However, the no-gap-found path
> returns xas.xa_index, which after a successful loop is the first index
> in the range. As such, that index is misreported as a gap.
>
> The sole caller, page_cache_sync_ra(), uses the return value to estimate
> the cached run preceding a sequential read. In some cases, the buggy
> return value can undercount the contiguous range by one, shrinking the
> readahead window or pushing borderline requests into the
> small-random-read branch.
>
> Fix this by returning the start of the range - 1 when no hole is found.
> Update page_cache_next_miss() for clarity as well.
>
> Both helpers were previously fixed together in commit 9425c591e06a
> ("page cache: fix page_cache_next/prev_miss off by one"), but the fix
> was reverted because it caused a hugetlb performance regression. hugetlb
> no longer uses these functions and next_miss was subsequently refixed
> in commit 901a269ff3d5 ("filemap: fix page_cache_next_miss() when no
> hole found") and commit bbcaee20e03e ("readahead: fix return value of
> page_cache_next_miss() when no hole is found"), but prev_miss was not
> addressed.
>
> This was found by pointing Claude Opus 4.7 at mm/filemap.c.
>
> Fixes: 0d3f92966629 ("page cache: Convert hole search to XArray")
> Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-7
> Signed-off-by: Tal Zussman <tz2294@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Looks good. Feel free to add:

Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxx>

Honza

> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - Change return value for clarity, per Vishal and Jan.
> - Update page_cache_next_miss() for consistency and get rid of nr variable.
> - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260510-prev_miss_fix-v1-1-755bb123145a@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> ---
> mm/filemap.c | 13 +++++++------
> 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/filemap.c b/mm/filemap.c
> index ab34cab2416a..4263d9775998 100644
> --- a/mm/filemap.c
> +++ b/mm/filemap.c
> @@ -1808,9 +1808,8 @@ pgoff_t page_cache_next_miss(struct address_space *mapping,
> pgoff_t index, unsigned long max_scan)
> {
> XA_STATE(xas, &mapping->i_pages, index);
> - unsigned long nr = max_scan;
>
> - while (nr--) {
> + while (max_scan--) {
> void *entry = xas_next(&xas);
> if (!entry || xa_is_value(entry))
> return xas.xa_index;
> @@ -1818,7 +1817,8 @@ pgoff_t page_cache_next_miss(struct address_space *mapping,
> return 0;
> }
>
> - return index + max_scan;
> + /* Return end of the range + 1 when no hole is found */
> + return xas.xa_index + 1;
> }
> EXPORT_SYMBOL(page_cache_next_miss);
>
> @@ -1849,12 +1849,13 @@ pgoff_t page_cache_prev_miss(struct address_space *mapping,
> while (max_scan--) {
> void *entry = xas_prev(&xas);
> if (!entry || xa_is_value(entry))
> - break;
> + return xas.xa_index;
> if (xas.xa_index == ULONG_MAX)
> - break;
> + return ULONG_MAX;
> }
>
> - return xas.xa_index;
> + /* Return start of the range - 1 when no hole is found */
> + return xas.xa_index - 1;
> }
> EXPORT_SYMBOL(page_cache_prev_miss);
>
>
> ---
> base-commit: e9dd96806dbc2d50a66770b6a86962bd5d601153
> change-id: 20260510-prev_miss_fix-fcb308472131
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Tal Zussman <tz2294@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
--
Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxxx>
SUSE Labs, CR