[PATCH] init: do_mounts: use kmalloc() for allocations of temporary buffers

From: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft)

Date: Wed May 20 2026 - 04:23:57 EST


Several places in init/do_mounts.c allocate temporary buffers for
filesystem names or options using __get_free_page() or alloc_page().

Usage of alloc_page() APIs is not required there and only creates
unnecessary noise with castings or conversion from struct page to void *.

kmalloc() is a better API for these uses and it also provides better
scalability and more debugging possibilities.

Replace use of __get_free_page() and alloc_page() with kmalloc().

While on it, add a check for -ENOMEM condition in mount_root_generic().

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/635405e4-9423-4a25-a6e7-e03c8ea0bcbe@xxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
This is a (tiny) part of larger work of replacing page allocator calls
with kmalloc:

Also in git:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rppt/linux.git gfp-to-kmalloc/init
---
init/do_mounts.c | 21 ++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/init/do_mounts.c b/init/do_mounts.c
index 55ed3ac0b70f..95e0b3a0f711 100644
--- a/init/do_mounts.c
+++ b/init/do_mounts.c
@@ -143,16 +143,14 @@ static int __init do_mount_root(const char *name, const char *fs,
const int flags, const void *data)
{
struct super_block *s;
- struct page *p = NULL;
char *data_page = NULL;
int ret;

if (data) {
/* init_mount() requires a full page as fifth argument */
- p = alloc_page(GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!p)
+ data_page = kmalloc(PAGE_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!data_page)
return -ENOMEM;
- data_page = page_address(p);
strscpy_pad(data_page, data, PAGE_SIZE);
}

@@ -170,19 +168,20 @@ static int __init do_mount_root(const char *name, const char *fs,
MAJOR(ROOT_DEV), MINOR(ROOT_DEV));

out:
- if (p)
- put_page(p);
+ kfree(data_page);
return ret;
}

void __init mount_root_generic(char *name, char *pretty_name, int flags)
{
- struct page *page = alloc_page(GFP_KERNEL);
- char *fs_names = page_address(page);
+ char *fs_names = kmalloc(PAGE_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
char *p;
char b[BDEVNAME_SIZE];
int num_fs, i;

+ if (!fs_names)
+ panic("VFS: Unable to mount root fs: not enough memory");
+
scnprintf(b, BDEVNAME_SIZE, "unknown-block(%u,%u)",
MAJOR(ROOT_DEV), MINOR(ROOT_DEV));
if (root_fs_names)
@@ -242,7 +241,7 @@ void __init mount_root_generic(char *name, char *pretty_name, int flags)
printk("\n");
panic("VFS: Unable to mount root fs on \"%s\" or %s", pretty_name, b);
out:
- put_page(page);
+ kfree(fs_names);
}

#ifdef CONFIG_ROOT_NFS
@@ -343,7 +342,7 @@ static int __init mount_nodev_root(char *root_device_name)
int err = -EINVAL;
int num_fs, i;

- fs_names = (void *)__get_free_page(GFP_KERNEL);
+ fs_names = kmalloc(PAGE_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!fs_names)
return -EINVAL;
num_fs = split_fs_names(fs_names, PAGE_SIZE);
@@ -360,7 +359,7 @@ static int __init mount_nodev_root(char *root_device_name)
break;
}

- free_page((unsigned long)fs_names);
+ kfree(fs_names);
return err;
}


---
base-commit: 5d6919055dec134de3c40167a490f33c74c12581
change-id: 20260520-init-152a94946e25

Best regards,
--
Sincerely yours,
Mike.