[PATCH 7/8] mm/slab: Support disabling KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES at boot

From: Chris Down

Date: Tue Oct 27 2026 - 03:37:45 EST


Add a kmalloc_partition= early parameter, enabled by default on kernels
built with CONFIG_KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES=y.

Let's leave kmalloc_type() unchanged since each index simply resolves to
the same cache when partitioning is off.

Signed-off-by: Chris Down <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
.../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 7 +++++++
mm/Kconfig | 5 +++++
mm/slab_common.c | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
3 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 20710d6ccd1f..9752bd2aaa72 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -3054,6 +3054,13 @@ Kernel parameters
Configure the RouterBoard 532 series on-chip
Ethernet adapter MAC address.

+ kmalloc_partition= [MM,EARLY]
+ Format: <bool>
+ Enable or disable kmalloc cache partitioning on
+ kernels built with CONFIG_KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES=y.
+ Ignored without that option.
+ Default: on.
+
kmemleak= [KNL,EARLY] Boot-time kmemleak enable/disable
Valid arguments: on, off
Default: on
diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index ebdf14a87c71..12fbd7075705 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -270,6 +270,11 @@ config KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES
limited degree of memory and CPU overhead that relates to hardware
and system workload.

+ The partitioning can be disabled at boot with the
+ "kmalloc_partition=0" kernel parameter, in which case the copies
+ are not created and all normal kmalloc allocations use the
+ regular kmalloc caches.
+
choice
prompt "Partitioned slab cache mode"
depends on KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES
diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
index 9fe48da12010..5391149a2eed 100644
--- a/mm/slab_common.c
+++ b/mm/slab_common.c
@@ -781,6 +781,16 @@ unsigned long random_kmalloc_seed __ro_after_init;
EXPORT_SYMBOL(random_kmalloc_seed);
#endif

+#ifdef CONFIG_KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES
+static bool kmalloc_partition_enabled __ro_after_init = true;
+
+static int __init setup_kmalloc_partition(char *str)
+{
+ return kstrtobool(str, &kmalloc_partition_enabled);
+}
+early_param("kmalloc_partition", setup_kmalloc_partition);
+#endif
+
/*
* Conversion table for small slabs sizes / 8 to the index in the
* kmalloc array. This is necessary for slabs < 192 since we have non power
@@ -1013,8 +1023,15 @@ new_kmalloc_cache(int idx, enum kmalloc_cache_type type)
}

#ifdef CONFIG_KMALLOC_PARTITION_CACHES
- if (type >= KMALLOC_PARTITION_START && type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END)
+ if (!kmalloc_partition_enabled) {
+ /* Use the normal caches, which have already been created. */
+ if (type > KMALLOC_PARTITION_START && type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END) {
+ kmalloc_caches[type][idx] = kmalloc_caches[KMALLOC_NORMAL][idx];
+ return;
+ }
+ } else if (type >= KMALLOC_PARTITION_START && type <= KMALLOC_PARTITION_END) {
flags |= SLAB_NO_MERGE;
+ }
#endif

/*
--
2.54.0