[PATCH v2 00/16] mm/slab: introduce alloc_flags and slab_alloc_context

From: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)

Date: Wed Jun 10 2026 - 12:17:38 EST


This series is based on slab/for-next. As suggested by Alexei I will
try to put it there ASAP (hence the early respin) and see if it looks
stable enough to be send in the second 7.2 merge window week.

Git: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vbabka/linux.git/log/?h=b4/slab_alloc_flags

The slab implementation currently relies on gfp flags to convey
some context information internally:

- The absence of both __GFP_RECLAIM flags is interpreted as "cannot spin
on locks", and intended to be used by kmalloc_nolock(). But false
positives are possible e.g. during early boot where gfp_allowed_mask
clears __GFP_RECLAIM from all allocations. This leads to unnecessary
allocation failures and workarounds such as fd3634312a04 ("debugobject:
Make it work with deferred page initialization - again").

- __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT exists and takes up valuable bit in the gfp flags
space, only to prevent recursive kmalloc() allocations for obj_ext
arrays and sheaves.

The page allocator uses its internal alloc_flags to convey various
context information, including ALLOC_TRYLOCK (meaning "cannot spin").
This series copies that concept for the slab allocator, with its own
slab-specific internal flags:

- SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT - no extra flags (the value is 0), but explicit
- SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK - do not spin on locks (used by kmalloc_nolock())
- SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB - replacing existing 'bool new_slab' parameter
for allocating obj_ext arrays
- SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE - replacing usage of __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT

To reduce the amount of parameters in various internal functions, we
additionally introduce slab_alloc_context (also inspired by page
allocator's alloc_context) for passing a number of existing arguments
and the new alloc_flags:

/* Structure holding extra parameters for slab allocations */
struct slab_alloc_context {
unsigned long caller_addr;
unsigned long orig_size;
unsigned int alloc_flags;
struct list_lru *lru;
};

This also replaces the existing struct partial_context.

The last necessary piece is kmalloc_flags() which can take the
alloc_flags in addition to gfp flags and is intended for the recursive
allocations of sheaves and obj_ext arrays, so that both
SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK and SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE can be communicated.
Internally it decides between kmalloc_nolock() and normal kmalloc()
depending SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK.

The rest of the series is gradually expanding the usage of both
alloc_flags and slab_alloc_context as necessary, with bits of
refactoring. Then, __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT is removed completely.

Note that some usage of gfpflags_allow_spinning() relying on absence of
__GFP_RECLAIM remains outside of slab (and page allocator) in memcg,
page_owner and stackdepot code. These can thus yield false-positive
decisions that spinning is not allowed, but should not result in
important allocations failing anymore.

Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v2:
- Due to Sashiko review, drop the idea of zeroing orig_size
unconditionally, as it can break krealloc(). Thanks to that found a
pre-existing bug fixed by the new Patch 1. The kfence zeroing related
cleanup is implemented differently in Patch 2.
- Prevent nested kmalloc_nolock warnings due to added gfp flags
(Sashiko)
- Fix a pre-existing issue with opportunistic slab allocation from the
target node only effectively dropping __GFP_NOMEMALLOC and __GFP_RECLAIM.
(Sashiko)
- Move kmalloc_flags() definitions to mm/slab.h (per Harry).
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260609-slab_alloc_flags-v1-0-2bf4a4b9b526@xxxxxxxxxx

---
Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) (16):
mm/slab: do not limit zeroing to orig_size when only red zoning is enabled
mm/slab: do not init any kfence objects on allocation
mm/slab: stop inlining __slab_alloc_node()
mm/slab: introduce slab_alloc_context
mm/slab: introduce alloc_flags and SLAB_ALLOC_TRYLOCK
mm/slab: add alloc_flags to slab_alloc_context
mm/slab: replace struct partial_context with slab_alloc_context
mm/slab: pass alloc_flags to new slab allocation
mm/slab: pass alloc_flags through slab_post_alloc_hook() chain
mm/slab: replace slab_alloc_node() parameters with slab_alloc_context
mm/slab: allow kmem_cache_alloc_bulk() with any gfp flags
mm/slab: pass slab_alloc_context to __do_kmalloc_node()
mm/slab: allow __GFP_NOMEMALLOC and __GFP_NOWARN for kmalloc_nolock()
mm/slab: introduce kmalloc_flags()
mm/slab: remove __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT usage from alloc_slab_obj_exts()
mm/slab: replace __GFP_NO_OBJ_EXT with SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE for sheaves

include/linux/slab.h | 5 +-
mm/kfence/core.c | 2 +-
mm/memcontrol.c | 5 +-
mm/slab.h | 29 +++-
mm/slub.c | 439 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
5 files changed, 304 insertions(+), 176 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 500b2c9755301742bdbb61249511ac11a4665dae
change-id: 20260601-slab_alloc_flags-25c782b0c57c

Best regards,
--
Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@xxxxxxxxxx>