[PATCH v5 RFC 5/6] page_pool: update document about frag API

From: Yunsheng Lin
Date: Thu Jun 29 2023 - 08:05:09 EST


As more drivers begin to use the frag API, update the
document about how to decide which API to use for the
driver author.

Also it seems there is a similar document in page_pool.h,
so remove it to avoid the duplication.

Signed-off-by: Yunsheng Lin <linyunsheng@xxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Lorenzo Bianconi <lorenzo@xxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Alexander Duyck <alexander.duyck@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Liang Chen <liangchen.linux@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Alexander Lobakin <aleksander.lobakin@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/networking/page_pool.rst | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++----
include/net/page_pool.h | 22 -----------------
2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/networking/page_pool.rst b/Documentation/networking/page_pool.rst
index 873efd97f822..18b13d659c98 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/page_pool.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/page_pool.rst
@@ -4,12 +4,27 @@
Page Pool API
=============

-The page_pool allocator is optimized for the XDP mode that uses one frame
-per-page, but it can fallback on the regular page allocator APIs.
+The page_pool allocator is optimized for recycling page or page frag used by skb
+packet and xdp frame.

-Basic use involves replacing alloc_pages() calls with the
-page_pool_alloc_pages() call. Drivers should use page_pool_dev_alloc_pages()
-replacing dev_alloc_pages().
+Basic use involves replacing napi_alloc_frag() and alloc_pages() calls with
+page_pool_cache_alloc() and page_pool_alloc(), which allocate memory with or
+without page splitting depending on the requested memory size.
+
+If the driver knows that it always requires full pages or its allocates are
+always smaller than half a page, it can use one of the more specific API calls:
+
+1. page_pool_alloc_pages(): allocate memory without page splitting when driver
+ knows that the memory it need is always bigger than half of the page
+ allocated from page pool. There is no cache line dirtying for 'struct page'
+ when a page is recycled back to the page pool.
+
+2. page_pool_alloc_frag(): allocate memory with page splitting when driver knows
+ that the memory it need is always smaller than or equal to half of the page
+ allocated from page pool. Page splitting enables memory saving and thus avoid
+ TLB/cache miss for data access, but there also is some cost to implement page
+ splitting, mainly some cache line dirtying/bouncing for 'struct page' and
+ atomic operation for page->pp_frag_count.

API keeps track of in-flight pages, in order to let API user know
when it is safe to free a page_pool object. Thus, API users
@@ -93,6 +108,15 @@ a page will cause no race conditions is enough.
* page_pool_dev_alloc_pages(): Get a page from the page allocator or page_pool
caches.

+* page_pool_dev_alloc_frag(): Get a page frag from the page allocator or
+ page_pool caches.
+
+* page_pool_dev_alloc(): Get a page or page frag from the page allocator or
+ page_pool caches.
+
+* page_pool_dev_cache_alloc(): Get a cache from the page allocator or page_pool
+ caches.
+
* page_pool_get_dma_addr(): Retrieve the stored DMA address.

* page_pool_get_dma_dir(): Retrieve the stored DMA direction.
diff --git a/include/net/page_pool.h b/include/net/page_pool.h
index e9fb95d62ed5..2b7db9992fc0 100644
--- a/include/net/page_pool.h
+++ b/include/net/page_pool.h
@@ -5,28 +5,6 @@
* Copyright (C) 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
*/

-/**
- * DOC: page_pool allocator
- *
- * This page_pool allocator is optimized for the XDP mode that
- * uses one-frame-per-page, but have fallbacks that act like the
- * regular page allocator APIs.
- *
- * Basic use involve replacing alloc_pages() calls with the
- * page_pool_alloc_pages() call. Drivers should likely use
- * page_pool_dev_alloc_pages() replacing dev_alloc_pages().
- *
- * API keeps track of in-flight pages, in-order to let API user know
- * when it is safe to dealloactor page_pool object. Thus, API users
- * must make sure to call page_pool_release_page() when a page is
- * "leaving" the page_pool. Or call page_pool_put_page() where
- * appropiate. For maintaining correct accounting.
- *
- * API user must only call page_pool_put_page() once on a page, as it
- * will either recycle the page, or in case of elevated refcnt, it
- * will release the DMA mapping and in-flight state accounting. We
- * hope to lift this requirement in the future.
- */
#ifndef _NET_PAGE_POOL_H
#define _NET_PAGE_POOL_H

--
2.33.0