Re: [PATCH v2 2/4] mm/huge_memory: replace can_split_folio() with direct refcount calculation

From: David Hildenbrand (Red Hat)
Date: Mon Nov 24 2025 - 05:42:12 EST


On 11/22/25 03:55, Zi Yan wrote:
can_split_folio() is just a refcount comparison, making sure only the
split caller holds an extra pin. Open code it with
folio_expected_ref_count() != folio_ref_count() - 1. For the extra_pins
used by folio_ref_freeze(), add folio_cache_references() to calculate it.

Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/huge_mm.h | 1 -
mm/huge_memory.c | 43 ++++++++++++++++-------------------------
mm/vmscan.c | 3 ++-
3 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 28 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/huge_mm.h b/include/linux/huge_mm.h
index 97686fb46e30..1ecaeccf39c9 100644
--- a/include/linux/huge_mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/huge_mm.h
@@ -369,7 +369,6 @@ enum split_type {
SPLIT_TYPE_NON_UNIFORM,
};
-bool can_split_folio(struct folio *folio, int caller_pins, int *pextra_pins);
int __split_huge_page_to_list_to_order(struct page *page, struct list_head *list,
unsigned int new_order);
int folio_split_unmapped(struct folio *folio, unsigned int new_order);
diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index c1f1055165dd..6c821c1c0ac3 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -3455,23 +3455,6 @@ static void lru_add_split_folio(struct folio *folio, struct folio *new_folio,
}
}
-/* Racy check whether the huge page can be split */
-bool can_split_folio(struct folio *folio, int caller_pins, int *pextra_pins)
-{
- int extra_pins;
-
- /* Additional pins from page cache */
- if (folio_test_anon(folio))
- extra_pins = folio_test_swapcache(folio) ?
- folio_nr_pages(folio) : 0;
- else
- extra_pins = folio_nr_pages(folio);
- if (pextra_pins)
- *pextra_pins = extra_pins;
- return folio_mapcount(folio) == folio_ref_count(folio) - extra_pins -
- caller_pins;
-}
-
static bool page_range_has_hwpoisoned(struct page *page, long nr_pages)
{
for (; nr_pages; page++, nr_pages--)
@@ -3776,17 +3759,26 @@ int folio_check_splittable(struct folio *folio, unsigned int new_order,
return 0;
}
+/* Number of folio references from the pagecache or the swapcache. */
+static unsigned int folio_cache_references(const struct folio *folio)
+{
+ if (folio_test_anon(folio) && !folio_test_swapcache(folio))
+ return 0;
+ return folio_nr_pages(folio);
+}
+
static int __folio_freeze_and_split_unmapped(struct folio *folio, unsigned int new_order,
struct page *split_at, struct xa_state *xas,
struct address_space *mapping, bool do_lru,
struct list_head *list, enum split_type split_type,
- pgoff_t end, int *nr_shmem_dropped, int extra_pins)
+ pgoff_t end, int *nr_shmem_dropped)
{
struct folio *end_folio = folio_next(folio);
struct folio *new_folio, *next;
int old_order = folio_order(folio);
int ret = 0;
struct deferred_split *ds_queue;
+ int extra_pins = folio_cache_references(folio);

Can we just inline the call do folio_cache_references() and get rid of extra_pins.
(which is a bad name either way)


if (folio_ref_freeze(folio, folio_cache_references(folio) + 1) {


BTW, now that we have this helper, I wonder if we should then also do for
clarification on the unfreeze path:

diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index 0acdc2f26ee0c..7cbcf61b7971d 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -3824,8 +3824,7 @@ static int __folio_freeze_and_split_unmapped(struct folio *folio, unsigned int n
zone_device_private_split_cb(folio, new_folio);
- expected_refs = folio_expected_ref_count(new_folio) + 1;
- folio_ref_unfreeze(new_folio, expected_refs);
+ folio_ref_unfreeze(new_folio, folio_cache_references(new_folio) + 1);
if (do_lru)
lru_add_split_folio(folio, new_folio, lruvec, list);
@@ -3868,8 +3867,7 @@ static int __folio_freeze_and_split_unmapped(struct folio *folio, unsigned int n
* Otherwise, a parallel folio_try_get() can grab @folio
* and its caller can see stale page cache entries.
*/
- expected_refs = folio_expected_ref_count(folio) + 1;
- folio_ref_unfreeze(folio, expected_refs);
+ folio_ref_unfreeze(folio, folio_cache_references(folio) + 1);
if (do_lru)
unlock_page_lruvec(lruvec);


--
Cheers

David