Re: [PATCH v5 14/14] mm: thp: always enable mTHP support

From: Baolin Wang

Date: Mon Jun 01 2026 - 23:02:46 EST




On 6/1/26 8:02 PM, Baolin Wang wrote:


On 5/29/26 10:55 PM, Luiz Capitulino wrote:
If PMD-sized pages are not supported on an architecture (ie. the
arch implements arch_has_pmd_leaves() and it returns false) then the
current code disables all THP, including mTHP.

This commit fixes this by allowing mTHP to be always enabled for all
archs. When PMD-sized pages are not supported, its sysfs entry won't be
created and their mapping will be disallowed at page-fault time.

Similarly, this commit implements the following changes for shmem in
shmem_allowable_huge_orders():

  - Drop the pgtable_has_pmd_leaves() check so that mTHP sizes are
    considered
  - Filter out PMD and PUD orders from allowable orders when
    PMD-sized pages are not supported by the CPU

Signed-off-by: Luiz Capitulino <luizcap@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
  mm/huge_memory.c | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++-----
  mm/shmem.c       | 14 +++++++++-----
  2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index 32254febe097..059901a8c6cb 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -126,6 +126,15 @@ unsigned long __thp_vma_allowable_orders(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
      else
          supported_orders = THP_ORDERS_ALL_FILE_DEFAULT;
+    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves()) {
+        /*
+         * If the CPU does not support PMD leaves, assume for
+         * now that it does not support PUD leaves and disable
+         * both folio orders.
+         */
+        supported_orders &= ~(BIT(PMD_ORDER) | BIT(PUD_ORDER));
+    }
+
      orders &= supported_orders;
      if (!orders)
          return 0;
@@ -133,7 +142,7 @@ unsigned long __thp_vma_allowable_orders(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
      if (!vma->vm_mm)        /* vdso */
          return 0;
-    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves() || vma_thp_disabled(vma, vm_flags, forced_collapse))
+    if (vma_thp_disabled(vma, vm_flags, forced_collapse))
          return 0;
      /* khugepaged doesn't collapse DAX vma, but page fault is fine. */
@@ -848,7 +857,7 @@ static int __init hugepage_init_sysfs(struct kobject **hugepage_kobj)
       * disable all other sizes. powerpc's PMD_ORDER isn't a compile- time
       * constant so we have to do this here.
       */
-    if (!anon_orders_configured)
+    if (!anon_orders_configured && pgtable_has_pmd_leaves())
          huge_anon_orders_inherit = BIT(PMD_ORDER);
      *hugepage_kobj = kobject_create_and_add("transparent_hugepage", mm_kobj);
@@ -870,6 +879,15 @@ static int __init hugepage_init_sysfs(struct kobject **hugepage_kobj)
      }
      orders = THP_ORDERS_ALL_ANON | THP_ORDERS_ALL_FILE_DEFAULT;
+    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves()) {
+        /*
+         * If the CPU does not support PMD leaves, assume for
+         * now that it does not support PUD leaves and disable
+         * both folio orders.
+         */
+        orders &= ~(BIT(PMD_ORDER) | BIT(PUD_ORDER));
+    }
+
      order = highest_order(orders);
      while (orders) {
          thpsize = thpsize_create(order, *hugepage_kobj);
@@ -969,9 +987,6 @@ static int __init hugepage_init(void)
      int err;
      struct kobject *hugepage_kobj;
-    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves())
-        return -EINVAL;
-
      /*
       * hugepages can't be allocated by the buddy allocator
       */
diff --git a/mm/shmem.c b/mm/shmem.c
index 079e299ea789..c15dffd0eb41 100644
--- a/mm/shmem.c
+++ b/mm/shmem.c
@@ -1844,16 +1844,19 @@ unsigned long shmem_allowable_huge_orders(struct inode *inode,
      unsigned long mask = READ_ONCE(huge_shmem_orders_always);
      unsigned long within_size_orders = READ_ONCE(huge_shmem_orders_within_size);
      vm_flags_t vm_flags = vma ? vma->vm_flags : 0;
-    unsigned int global_orders;
+    unsigned int global_orders, disabled_orders = 0;
-    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves() || (vma && vma_thp_disabled(vma, vm_flags, shmem_huge_force)))
+    if (vma && vma_thp_disabled(vma, vm_flags, shmem_huge_force))
          return 0;
+    if (!pgtable_has_pmd_leaves())
+        disabled_orders = BIT(PMD_ORDER);
+
      global_orders = shmem_huge_global_enabled(inode, index, write_end,
                            shmem_huge_force, vma, vm_flags);
      /* Tmpfs huge pages allocation */
      if (!vma || !vma_is_anon_shmem(vma))
-        return global_orders;
+        return global_orders & ~disabled_orders;
      /*
       * Following the 'deny' semantics of the top level, force the huge
@@ -1867,7 +1870,7 @@ unsigned long shmem_allowable_huge_orders(struct inode *inode,
       * means non-PMD sized THP can not override 'huge' mount option now.
       */
      if (shmem_huge == SHMEM_HUGE_FORCE)
-        return READ_ONCE(huge_shmem_orders_inherit);
+        return READ_ONCE(huge_shmem_orders_inherit) & ~disabled_orders;
      /* Allow mTHP that will be fully within i_size. */
      mask |= shmem_get_orders_within_size(inode, within_size_orders, index, 0);
@@ -1878,6 +1881,7 @@ unsigned long shmem_allowable_huge_orders(struct inode *inode,
      if (global_orders > 0)
          mask |= READ_ONCE(huge_shmem_orders_inherit);
+    mask &= ~disabled_orders;
      return THP_ORDERS_ALL_FILE_DEFAULT & mask;
  }
@@ -5461,7 +5465,7 @@ void __init shmem_init(void)
       * Default to setting PMD-sized THP to inherit the global setting and
       * disable all other multi-size THPs.
       */
-    if (!shmem_orders_configured)
+    if (!shmem_orders_configured && pgtable_has_pmd_leaves())
          huge_shmem_orders_inherit = BIT(HPAGE_PMD_ORDER);
  #endif
      return;

Seems we should also filter the PMD-sized order in shmem_getattr() if pgtable_has_pmd_leaves() returns false, like I mentioned in the previous link[1].

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/6591a74c-7ef9-4614-9ae9- cb2fbed86ebf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

You already did this in patch 7. So LGTM.
Reviewed-by: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>