[PATCH RFC 09/14] mm/page-flags: check page/folio->private instead of PG_private

From: Zi Yan

Date: Fri Jul 31 2026 - 22:19:34 EST


After the changes of the prior commits, page/folio->private != NULL is now
equivalent to checking PG_private.

Stop checking PG_private on pages and folios and use page/folio->private
instead, except swapcache and hugetlb folios, because the former uses a
field (swp_entry_t swap) overlapping with ->private and the latter sets its
flags in ->private. Exclude swapcache and hugetlb when the code is meant to
check PG_private only.

folio_set/clear_private() and Set/ClearPagePrivate() become no-ops.
PG_private is no longer checked at page free time.

KPF_PRIVATE exposes PG_private to userspace. Change its code logic to check
folio->private != NULL and exclude non-pagecache, swapcache, hugetlb, and
anon folios. One minor semantic change, for orphaned pagecache folios
(mapping == NULL) with fs-private data will no longer have KPF_PRIVATE.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5
Signed-off-by: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Matthew Wilcox (Oracle)" <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxx>
To: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Liam R. Howlett" <liam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Nico Pache <nico.pache@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Barry Song <baohua@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Lance Yang <lance.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Usama Arif <usama.arif@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Matthew Brost <matthew.brost@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Rakie Kim <rakie.kim@xxxxxx>
Cc: Byungchul Park <byungchul@xxxxxx>
Cc: Gregory Price <gourry@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ying Huang <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Alistair Popple <apopple@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Qi Zheng <qi.zheng@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Kairui Song <kasong@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Yuanchu Xie <yuanchu@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Wei Xu <weixugc@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-fsdevel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-trace-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
fs/proc/page.c | 6 +++++-
include/linux/mm.h | 11 ++++++-----
include/linux/page-flags.h | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++-----
include/trace/events/pagemap.h | 4 +++-
mm/huge_memory.c | 4 +++-
mm/migrate.c | 3 ++-
mm/page-writeback.c | 5 ++++-
mm/vmscan.c | 3 ++-
8 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/proc/page.c b/fs/proc/page.c
index 260772b20bd99..abfa6f7d890cc 100644
--- a/fs/proc/page.c
+++ b/fs/proc/page.c
@@ -232,7 +232,11 @@ u64 stable_page_flags(const struct page *page)

u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_RESERVED, PG_reserved);
u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_OWNER_2, PG_owner_2);
- u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_PRIVATE, PG_private);
+ /* preserve the original KPF_PRIVATE semantics by excluding non pagecache folios */
+ if (folio->mapping && !folio_test_anon(folio) &&
+ (folio_get_private(folio) && !folio_test_swapcache(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio)))
+ u |= BIT_ULL(KPF_PRIVATE);
u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_PRIVATE_2, PG_private_2);
u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_OWNER_PRIVATE, PG_owner_priv_1);
u |= kpf_copy_bit(k, KPF_ARCH, PG_arch_1);
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 7fabe6c66b4b7..ebc035ac26ccc 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -2961,9 +2961,9 @@ static inline bool folio_maybe_mapped_shared(struct folio *folio)
* @folio: the folio
*
* Calculate the expected folio refcount, taking references from the pagecache,
- * swapcache, PG_private and page table mappings into account. Useful in
- * combination with folio_ref_count() to detect unexpected references (e.g.,
- * GUP or other temporary references).
+ * swapcache, private data (folio->private != NULL) and page table mappings into
+ * account. Useful in combination with folio_ref_count() to detect unexpected
+ * references (e.g., GUP or other temporary references).
*
* Does currently not consider references from the LRU cache. If the folio
* was isolated from the LRU (which is the case during migration or split),
@@ -3003,8 +3003,9 @@ static inline int folio_expected_ref_count(const struct folio *folio)
if (!folio_test_anon(folio)) {
/* One reference per page from the pagecache. */
ref_count += !!folio->mapping << order;
- /* One reference from PG_private. */
- ref_count += folio_test_private(folio);
+ /* One reference from filesystem private data. */
+ ref_count += !!folio->private && !folio_test_hugetlb(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_swapcache(folio);
}

/* One reference per page table mapping. */
diff --git a/include/linux/page-flags.h b/include/linux/page-flags.h
index 7a863572adce7..8efc61f967302 100644
--- a/include/linux/page-flags.h
+++ b/include/linux/page-flags.h
@@ -578,7 +578,23 @@ FOLIO_FLAG(swapbacked, FOLIO_HEAD_PAGE)
* for its own purposes.
* - PG_private and PG_private_2 cause release_folio() and co to be invoked
*/
-PAGEFLAG(Private, private, PF_ANY)
+
+static __always_inline bool folio_test_private(const struct folio *folio)
+{
+ return folio->private;
+}
+
+static __always_inline int PagePrivate(const struct page *page)
+{
+ return !!page_private(page);
+}
+
+/* no-ops during transition */
+static __always_inline void folio_set_private(struct folio *folio) { }
+static __always_inline void folio_clear_private(struct folio *folio) { }
+static __always_inline void SetPagePrivate(struct page *page) { }
+static __always_inline void ClearPagePrivate(struct page *page) { }
+
FOLIO_FLAG(private_2, FOLIO_HEAD_PAGE)

/* owner_2 can be set on tail pages for anon memory */
@@ -1170,7 +1186,7 @@ static __always_inline void __ClearPageAnonExclusive(struct page *page)
*/
#define PAGE_FLAGS_CHECK_AT_FREE \
(1UL << PG_lru | 1UL << PG_locked | \
- 1UL << PG_private | 1UL << PG_private_2 | \
+ 1UL << PG_private_2 | \
1UL << PG_writeback | 1UL << PG_reserved | \
1UL << PG_active | \
1UL << PG_unevictable | __PG_MLOCKED | LRU_GEN_MASK)
@@ -1194,8 +1210,6 @@ static __always_inline void __ClearPageAnonExclusive(struct page *page)
(0xffUL /* order */ | 1UL << PG_has_hwpoisoned | \
1UL << PG_large_rmappable | 1UL << PG_partially_mapped)

-#define PAGE_FLAGS_PRIVATE \
- (1UL << PG_private | 1UL << PG_private_2)
/**
* folio_has_private - Determine if folio has private stuff
* @folio: The folio to be checked
@@ -1205,7 +1219,9 @@ static __always_inline void __ClearPageAnonExclusive(struct page *page)
*/
static inline int folio_has_private(const struct folio *folio)
{
- return !!(folio->flags.f & PAGE_FLAGS_PRIVATE);
+ return (!!folio->private && !folio_test_swapcache(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio)) ||
+ folio_test_private_2(folio);
}

#undef PF_ANY
diff --git a/include/trace/events/pagemap.h b/include/trace/events/pagemap.h
index 36c3a90f0acca..fb9abec40ec79 100644
--- a/include/trace/events/pagemap.h
+++ b/include/trace/events/pagemap.h
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
(folio_test_swapcache(folio) ? PAGEMAP_SWAPCACHE : 0) | \
(folio_test_swapbacked(folio) ? PAGEMAP_SWAPBACKED : 0) | \
(folio_test_mappedtodisk(folio) ? PAGEMAP_MAPPEDDISK : 0) | \
- (folio_test_private(folio) ? PAGEMAP_BUFFERS : 0) \
+ (folio_test_private(folio) && \
+ !folio_test_swapcache(folio) && \
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio) ? PAGEMAP_BUFFERS : 0) \
)

TRACE_EVENT(mm_lru_insertion,
diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index 21c92ee48e469..d21a9b8f40d15 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -4799,7 +4799,9 @@ static int split_huge_pages_pid(int pid, unsigned long vaddr_start,
* will try to drop it before split and then check if the folio
* can be split or not. So skip the check here.
*/
- if (!folio_test_private(folio) &&
+ if (!(folio_test_private(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_swapcache(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio)) &&
folio_expected_ref_count(folio) != folio_ref_count(folio))
goto next;

diff --git a/mm/migrate.c b/mm/migrate.c
index b937cbd764808..ad5daef8721cf 100644
--- a/mm/migrate.c
+++ b/mm/migrate.c
@@ -1330,7 +1330,8 @@ static int migrate_folio_unmap(new_folio_t get_new_folio,
* free the metadata, so the page can be freed.
*/
if (!src->mapping) {
- if (folio_test_private(src)) {
+ if (folio_test_private(src) && !folio_test_swapcache(src) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(src)) {
try_to_free_buffers(src);
goto out;
}
diff --git a/mm/page-writeback.c b/mm/page-writeback.c
index 47495be68598f..b44468383f900 100644
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c
+++ b/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -2706,7 +2706,10 @@ bool filemap_dirty_folio(struct address_space *mapping, struct folio *folio)
if (folio_test_set_dirty(folio))
return false;

- __folio_mark_dirty(folio, mapping, !folio_test_private(folio));
+ __folio_mark_dirty(folio, mapping,
+ !(folio_test_private(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_swapcache(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio)));

if (mapping->host) {
/* !PageAnon && !swapper_space */
diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 17d2b793cbfc4..ab059a2c6ea35 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -954,7 +954,8 @@ static void folio_check_dirty_writeback(struct folio *folio,
*writeback = folio_test_writeback(folio);

/* Verify dirty/writeback state if the filesystem supports it */
- if (!folio_test_private(folio))
+ if (!(folio_test_private(folio) && !folio_test_swapcache(folio) &&
+ !folio_test_hugetlb(folio)))
return;

mapping = folio_mapping(folio);

--
2.53.0