Re: [PATCH v2] mm/oom_kill: remove unreachable __GFP_THISNODE check in constrained_alloc()

From: Michal Hocko

Date: Thu Aug 13 2026 - 07:31:11 EST


On Thu 13-08-26 17:38:09, Ye Liu wrote:
> From: Ye Liu <liuye@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> The __GFP_THISNODE check in constrained_alloc() is dead code: global
> OOM is never triggered with __GFP_THISNODE (blocked in
> __alloc_pages_may_oom before out_of_memory() is called), and memcg OOM
> returns CONSTRAINT_MEMCG at the top of the function before reaching
> this point. Remove the check, its stale comment, and update the
> following comment that referenced __GFP_THISNODE.
>
> Signed-off-by: Ye Liu <liuye@xxxxxxxxxx>

Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Thanks!

> ---
> v2:
> - Remove the dead code directly.
> - Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260813030654.320269-1-ye.liu@xxxxxxxxx/
>
> mm/oom_kill.c | 13 +++----------
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/oom_kill.c b/mm/oom_kill.c
> index 5f372f6e26fa..fd3c476846a3 100644
> --- a/mm/oom_kill.c
> +++ b/mm/oom_kill.c
> @@ -267,18 +267,11 @@ static enum oom_constraint constrained_alloc(struct oom_control *oc)
>
> if (!oc->zonelist)
> return CONSTRAINT_NONE;
> - /*
> - * Reach here only when __GFP_NOFAIL is used. So, we should avoid
> - * to kill current.We have to random task kill in this case.
> - * Hopefully, CONSTRAINT_THISNODE...but no way to handle it, now.
> - */
> - if (oc->gfp_mask & __GFP_THISNODE)
> - return CONSTRAINT_NONE;
>
> /*
> - * This is not a __GFP_THISNODE allocation, so a truncated nodemask in
> - * the page allocator means a mempolicy is in effect. Cpuset policy
> - * is enforced in get_page_from_freelist().
> + * A truncated nodemask in the page allocator means a mempolicy
> + * is in effect. Cpuset policy is enforced in
> + * get_page_from_freelist().
> */
> if (oc->nodemask &&
> !nodes_subset(node_states[N_MEMORY], *oc->nodemask)) {
> --
> 2.25.1

--
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs