[PATCH] ext4: Reduce object size of ext4_msg uses

From: Joe Perches

Date: Fri Jul 24 2026 - 21:25:50 EST


Reduce the object size of ext4 ~2KB (~.5%) by combining the KERN_<LEVEL>
and format uses of ext4_msg.

Separate them in __ext4_msg using printk_get_level and printk_skip_level
and emitting the appropriate level.

x86 object sizes before and after:

defconfig size before:
$ size -t fs/ext4/built-in.a | tail -1
579013 121634 316 700963 ab223 (TOTALS)

defconfig size after:
$ size -t fs/ext4/built-in.a | tail -1
577196 121650 316 699162 aab1a (TOTALS)

defconfig size before with CONFIG_EXPERT=y and CONFIG_PRINTK=n:
$ size -t fs/ext4/built-in.a | tail -1
537999 121432 316 659747 a1123 (TOTALS)

defconfig size after with CONFIG_EXPERT=y and CONFIG_PRINTK=n:
$ size -t fs/ext4/built-in.a | tail -1
536837 121424 316 658577 a0c91 (TOTALS)

Signed-off-by: Joe Perches <joe@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/ext4/ext4.h | 12 ++++++------
fs/ext4/super.c | 14 +++++++++-----
2 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/ext4.h b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
index b37c136ea3ab..981918f32067 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -3309,8 +3309,8 @@ void __ext4_warning(struct super_block *, const char *, unsigned int,
extern __printf(4, 5)
void __ext4_warning_inode(const struct inode *inode, const char *function,
unsigned int line, const char *fmt, ...);
-extern __printf(3, 4)
-void __ext4_msg(struct super_block *, const char *, const char *, ...);
+extern __printf(2, 3)
+void __ext4_msg(struct super_block *, const char *fmt, ...);
extern void __dump_mmp_msg(struct super_block *, struct mmp_struct *mmp,
const char *, unsigned int, const char *);
extern __printf(7, 8)
@@ -3354,8 +3354,8 @@ void __ext4_grp_locked_error(const char *, unsigned int,
__ext4_warning(sb, __func__, __LINE__, fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
#define ext4_warning_inode(inode, fmt, ...) \
__ext4_warning_inode(inode, __func__, __LINE__, fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
-#define ext4_msg(sb, level, fmt, ...) \
- __ext4_msg(sb, level, fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
+#define ext4_msg(sb, level, fmt, ...) \
+ __ext4_msg(sb, level fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__)
#define dump_mmp_msg(sb, mmp, msg) \
__dump_mmp_msg(sb, mmp, __func__, __LINE__, msg)
#define ext4_grp_locked_error(sb, grp, ino, block, fmt, ...) \
@@ -3401,8 +3401,8 @@ do { \
} while (0)
#define ext4_msg(sb, level, fmt, ...) \
do { \
- no_printk(fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__); \
- __ext4_msg(sb, "", " "); \
+ no_printk(level fmt, ##__VA_ARGS__); \
+ __ext4_msg(sb, "" " "); \
} while (0)
#define dump_mmp_msg(sb, mmp, msg) \
__dump_mmp_msg(sb, mmp, "", 0, "")
diff --git a/fs/ext4/super.c b/fs/ext4/super.c
index 245f67d10ded..72d6f6353a27 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -981,11 +981,11 @@ void __ext4_std_error(struct super_block *sb, const char *function,
ext4_handle_error(sb, false, -errno, 0, 0, function, line);
}

-void __ext4_msg(struct super_block *sb,
- const char *prefix, const char *fmt, ...)
+void __ext4_msg(struct super_block *sb, const char *fmt, ...)
{
struct va_format vaf;
va_list args;
+ int level;

if (sb) {
atomic_inc(&EXT4_SB(sb)->s_msg_count);
@@ -995,12 +995,16 @@ void __ext4_msg(struct super_block *sb,
}

va_start(args, fmt);
- vaf.fmt = fmt;
+
+ level = printk_get_level(fmt);
+ vaf.fmt = printk_skip_level(fmt);
vaf.va = &args;
if (sb)
- printk("%sEXT4-fs (%s): %pV\n", prefix, sb->s_id, &vaf);
+ printk("%c%cEXT4-fs (%s): %pV\n",
+ KERN_SOH_ASCII, level, sb->s_id, &vaf);
else
- printk("%sEXT4-fs: %pV\n", prefix, &vaf);
+ printk("%c%cEXT4-fs: %pV\n",
+ KERN_SOH_ASCII, level, &vaf);
va_end(args);
}