Re: [PATCH] memblock: use binary search to locate candidate regions

[Mike Rapoport]

Hi Tarun,

On Thu, Sep 03, 2026 at 03:59:06PM +0000, Tarun Sahu wrote:
> Use binary search (memblock_bsearch_start) in memblock_add_range() and
> memblock_isolate_range() to locate candidate regions instead of linearly
> scanning from index 0.
> 
> Under heavy memory fragmentation (such as KHO page preservation registering
> hundreds of thousands of disjoint folios), scanning from index 0 on every
> insertion and isolation results in O(N^2) complexity, causing boot-time
> memory retrieval to take several minutes (~268s for 393k pages).
> 
> Using binary search reduces the worst-case complexity to O(N log N)
> (and O(N) for sequential appends), cutting KHO memory retrieval time
> from ~268s to ~50ms.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Tarun Sahu <tarunsahu@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  mm/memblock.c | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/memblock.c b/mm/memblock.c
> index 9ce86349a29f..88940474b020 100644
> --- a/mm/memblock.c
> +++ b/mm/memblock.c
> @@ -160,6 +160,11 @@ static __refdata struct memblock_type *memblock_memory = &memblock.memory;
>  	     i < memblock_type->cnt;					\
>  	     i++, rgn = &memblock_type->regions[i])
>  
> +#define for_each_memblock_type_from(i, memblock_type, rgn, start)	\
> +	for (i = (start), rgn = &memblock_type->regions[i];		\
> +	     i < memblock_type->cnt;					\
> +	     i++, rgn = &memblock_type->regions[i])
> +
>  #define memblock_dbg(fmt, ...)						\
>  	do {								\
>  		if (memblock_debug)					\
> @@ -591,6 +596,33 @@ static void __init_memblock memblock_insert_region(struct memblock_type *type,
>  	type->total_size += size;
>  }
>  
> +/**
> + * memblock_bsearch_start - Find the first region index where rend > base
> + * @type: memblock type to search
> + * @base: base physical address of the candidate range
> + *
> + * Returns the first region index that could potentially overlap @base.
> + */
> +static int __init_memblock memblock_bsearch_start(struct memblock_type *type,
> +						  phys_addr_t base)
> +{

We already have memblock_search() ;-)

> +	int mid, low = 0;
> +	int high = type->cnt;
> +
> +	if (type->cnt && base >= type->regions[type->cnt - 1].base +
> +				 type->regions[type->cnt - 1].size)
> +		return type->cnt;
> +
> +	while (low < high) {
> +		mid = (low + high) / 2;
> +		if (type->regions[mid].base + type->regions[mid].size <= base)
> +			low = mid + 1;
> +		else
> +			high = mid;
> +	}
> +	return low;
> +}
> +
>  /**
>   * memblock_add_range - add new memblock region
>   * @type: memblock type to add new region into
> @@ -651,7 +683,8 @@ static int __init_memblock memblock_add_range(struct memblock_type *type,
>  	base = obase;
>  	nr_new = 0;
>  
> -	for_each_memblock_type(idx, type, rgn) {
> +	for_each_memblock_type_from(idx, type, rgn,
> +				    memblock_bsearch_start(type, base)) {

I think we can just kill for_each_memblock_type() and open code all loops
that use it and make memblock_add_range() and memblock_isolate_range() use
binary search.

>  		phys_addr_t rbase = rgn->base;
>  		phys_addr_t rend = rbase + rgn->size;
>  
> @@ -827,7 +860,8 @@ static int __init_memblock memblock_isolate_range(struct memblock_type *type,
>  		if (memblock_double_array(type, base, size) < 0)
>  			return -ENOMEM;
>  
> -	for_each_memblock_type(idx, type, rgn) {
> +	for_each_memblock_type_from(idx, type, rgn,
> +				    memblock_bsearch_start(type, base)) {
>  		phys_addr_t rbase = rgn->base;
>  		phys_addr_t rend = rbase + rgn->size;
>  
> -- 
> 2.55.0.970.g62bdec98f9-goog
> 

-- 
Sincerely yours,
Mike.