Re: [PATCH v2 2/2] arm64: mmu: avoid allocating pages while installing ng-mapping for KPTI

From: David Hildenbrand (Red Hat)
Date: Thu Dec 18 2025 - 03:46:22 EST


On 12/18/25 09:37, Yeoreum Yun wrote:
[...]
I think it would be better to use only __GFP_HIGH in here since
when kpti_install_ng_mappings() is called, "kswpd" doesn't created yet.
and to allocate page with assurance, It would be good to use
min_reserved to.

Am I missing something?

Personally I think we should just use "GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_ZERO". Anything else
would make this allocation look special, which it is not. If we fail to allocate
at this point in boot, we have bigger problems.

But I'm not sure *HOW effective* to use GFP_KERNEL in here.
Since it's before the any filesystem inited.
IOW, in this context, almost there would be no *page cache*
and I think it seems meaningless to use "GFP_KERNEL" and "direct
reclaim"

So to get success for allocation, __GFP_HIGH | _GFP_ZERO seems much
better.

Unless there is a real reason to confuse readers why this is very special, just go with "GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_ZERO", really.

In particular if it doesn't matter in practice? Or does it and we are not getting your point?

--
Cheers

David