Re: [PATCH net] net: ethernet: microchip: lan743x: Fix memory allocation failure

From: Gerhard Engleder
Date: Fri Mar 14 2025 - 16:37:30 EST


On 14.03.25 08:02, Thangaraj Samynathan wrote:
The driver allocates ring elements using GFP_ATOMIC and GFP_DMA
flags. The allocation is not done in atomic context and there is
no dependency from LAN743x hardware on memory allocation should be
in DMA_ZONE. Hence modifying the flags to use only GFP_KERNEL.

Signed-off-by: Thangaraj Samynathan <thangaraj.s@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c | 3 +--
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
index 23760b613d3e..c10b0131d5fb 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/microchip/lan743x_main.c
@@ -2495,8 +2495,7 @@ static int lan743x_rx_process_buffer(struct lan743x_rx *rx)
/* save existing skb, allocate new skb and map to dma */
skb = buffer_info->skb;
- if (lan743x_rx_init_ring_element(rx, rx->last_head,
- GFP_ATOMIC | GFP_DMA)) {
+ if (lan743x_rx_init_ring_element(rx, rx->last_head, GFP_KERNEL)) {

I agree with removing GFP_DMA. If it would be needed, then everywhere
and not only here in NAPI context as it is intended for hardware
limitations.

I'm not sure if GFP_ATOMIC can be removed. Isn't NAPI an atomic context?
For example napi_alloc_skb() and page_pool_dev_alloc_pages() use
GFP_ATOMIC.

Gerhard