Re: [PATCH v5 1/4] mm: Add address apis for ptdescs

[Vishal Moola (Oracle)]

On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 02:18:20PM -0800, Vishal Moola (Oracle) wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 12:13:10PM -0800, Dave Hansen wrote:
> > On 2/11/26 11:52, Vishal Moola (Oracle) wrote:
> > > +/**
> > > + * pgtable_alloc_addr - Allocate pagetables to get an address
> > > + * @gfp:       GFP flags
> > > + * @order:     desired pagetable order
> > 
> > FWIW, I don't like how pgtable_alloc_addr() looks in practice. It reads
> > like it is: "allocate a page table address", not "allocate a page
> > table". I don't have a better suggestion other than having:
> 
> Hmmm. I meant for it to read "allocate a page table and get its address."
> 
> > 	pgtable_alloc()
> > 
> > that returns a page table pointer, a void*, and:
> 
> Initially, I intended to name it pgtable_alloc() & pgtable_free(). I saw
> arm using pgtable_alloc() and powerpc using pgtable_free(), so I looked
> for another name.

I've done some digging about these names.
The arm cases uses a function pointer, so we should be able to use that
name without issue.

What do you think is a reasonable name for freeing?

pgtable_free() is defined for sparc and powerpc. I could rename them
prefixed with "__" to get the name since they only have 1-2 internal
callers.

> > 	ptdesc_alloc()
> > 
> > which returns a ptdesc*. But I suspect that would get confusing at the
> > point that ptdescs _themselves_ start getting allocated.
> 
> The ptdesc_alloc() equivalent right now is named pagetable_alloc(), so I
> don't think it'd get confusing.