Re: [PATCH v7] page_alloc: allow migration of smaller hugepages during contig_alloc

From: Zi Yan

Date: Tue Jan 06 2026 - 13:56:13 EST


On 6 Jan 2026, at 13:46, David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) wrote:

>> - return false;
>> + /*
>> + * Only consider ranges containing hugepages if those pages are
>> + * smaller than the requested contiguous region. e.g.:
>> + * Move 2MB pages to free up a 1GB range.
>> + * Don't move 1GB pages to free up a 2MB range.
>> + *
>> + * This makes contiguous allocation more reliable if multiple
>> + * hugepage sizes are used without causing needless movement.
>> + */
>> + if (PageHuge(page)) {
>> + unsigned int order;
>> +
>> + if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARCH_ENABLE_HUGEPAGE_MIGRATION))
>> + return false;
>> +
>> + if (skip_hugetlb) {
>> + *skipped_hugetlb = true;
>> + return false;
>> + }
>> +
>> + page = compound_head(page);
>> + order = compound_order(page);
>> + if ((order >= MAX_FOLIO_ORDER) ||
>> + (nr_pages <= (1 << order)))
>> + return false;
>> +
>> + /*
>> + * Reaching this point means we've encounted a huge page
>> + * smaller than nr_pages, skip all pfn's for that page.
>> + *
>> + * We can't get here from a tail-PageHuge, as it implies
>> + * we started a scan in the middle of a hugepage larger
>> + * than nr_pages - which the prior check filters for.
>> + */
>> + i += (1 << order) - 1;
>
> Assuming page != compound_head(page), you'd be skipping too much.

It might not happen based on my reasoning[1], but feel free to punch poles. :)

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/7EED2D83-AE17-49CB-BDB6-954793EAFDBF@xxxxxxxxxx/

>
> You'd only have to skip as many pages as pages are left in this compound page.
>
> I think we have similar code elsewhere: see has_unmovable_pages().
>
> Apart from that LGTM.


Best Regards,
Yan, Zi