[PATCH v2 2/6] mm/sparse-vmemmap: support device DAX in common vmemmap path

From: Muchun Song

Date: Thu Sep 24 2026 - 04:03:08 EST


The common vmemmap population path cannot yet handle optimized Device DAX
mappings on its own. It uses pfn_to_zone() to find the shared tail page,
but Device DAX populates its vmemmap at runtime before the ZONE_DEVICE span
is initialized.

Teach the common path to use device_zone() for runtime optimized vmemmap
population while retaining pfn_to_zone() for early boot. This allows the
same path to support both early boot mappings and Device DAX.

The backing PFN supplied by the Device DAX-specific population path is no
longer used, allowing the redundant lookup and population code to be
removed later.

Signed-off-by: Muchun Song <songmuchun@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
- Expand comments around slab initialization to explain zone lookup and
page refcounting (suggested by Qi Zheng)
---
mm/sparse-vmemmap.c | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
1 file changed, 31 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
index 919c94a36346..cdcc93714a9a 100644
--- a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
+++ b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
@@ -208,18 +208,39 @@ static __meminit void *vmemmap_alloc_pte(unsigned long pfn, int node,
struct page *page;
const unsigned int order = pfn_to_section_compound_order(pfn);

- /*
- * Device DAX still relies on vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() for
- * head/first-tail allocation and tail-page reuse.
- */
if (!vmemmap_optimizable_pfn(pfn))
return vmemmap_alloc_block_buf(PAGE_SIZE, node, altmap);

- zone = pfn_to_zone(pfn, node);
+ /*
+ * Before slab is available, vmemmap optimization is used for early
+ * system RAM, whose zone can be determined from the PFN.
+ *
+ * Once slab is available, only ZONE_DEVICE memory reaches this
+ * optimized population path. Its zone span has not been initialized
+ * while its vmemmap is being populated, so pfn_to_zone() cannot be
+ * used. Obtain ZONE_DEVICE directly from the node instead.
+ */
+ zone = slab_is_available() ? device_zone(node) : pfn_to_zone(pfn, node);
page = vmemmap_shared_tail_page(order, zone);
if (!page)
return NULL;

+ /*
+ * During early vmemmap population, the shared tail vmemmap backing
+ * page is allocated from memblock before its struct page can safely
+ * participate in page refcounting. Therefore, no reference can be
+ * held for each shared PTE mapping, and the mappings must be unshared
+ * before the vmemmap is depopulated.
+ *
+ * Once slab is available, the shared backing page is allocated from
+ * the buddy allocator and can be refcounted. Hold one reference for
+ * each shared PTE mapping. The architecture vmemmap teardown drops
+ * the reference through __free_pages() when removing the mapping,
+ * preventing the backing page from being freed while it is shared.
+ */
+ if (slab_is_available())
+ get_page(page);
+
return page_address(page);
}

@@ -231,27 +252,12 @@ static pte_t * __meminit vmemmap_pte_populate(pmd_t *pmd, unsigned long addr, in

if (pte_none(ptep_get(pte))) {
pte_t entry;
+ void *p = vmemmap_alloc_pte(pfn, node, altmap);

- if (ptpfn == (unsigned long)-1) {
- void *p = vmemmap_alloc_pte(pfn, node, altmap);
-
- if (!p)
- return NULL;
- ptpfn = PHYS_PFN(__pa(p));
- } else {
- /*
- * When a PTE/PMD entry is freed from the init_mm
- * there's a free_pages() call to this page allocated
- * above. Thus this get_page() is paired with the
- * put_page_testzero() on the freeing path.
- * This can only called by certain ZONE_DEVICE path,
- * and through vmemmap_populate_compound_pages() when
- * slab is available.
- */
- if (slab_is_available())
- get_page(pfn_to_page(ptpfn));
- }
- entry = pfn_pte(ptpfn, PAGE_KERNEL);
+ if (!p)
+ return NULL;
+
+ entry = pfn_pte(PHYS_PFN(__pa(p)), PAGE_KERNEL);
set_pte_at(&init_mm, addr, pte, entry);
} else if (WARN_ON_ONCE(vmemmap_optimizable_pfn(pfn)))
return NULL;
--
2.54.0