Re: [PATCH] docs: Add overview and SLUB allocator sections to slab documentation

[Lorenzo Stoakes]

On Sun, Apr 19, 2026 at 10:35:44AM +0200, David Hildenbrand (Arm) wrote:
> On 4/18/26 18:15, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> > On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 10:07:22AM +0100, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> >> On Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 12:06:19AM +0000, Nick Huang wrote:
> >>> - Add "Overview" section explaining the slab allocator's role and purpose
> >>> - Document the three main slab allocator implementations (SLAB, SLUB, SLOB)
> >>
> >> The fact you're insanely wrong about the current state of slab only makes this
> >> worse.
> >
> > This is actually a new low.  We've always had to contend with people
> > putting up outdated or just wrong information on web pages, and there's
> > little we can do about it.  Witness all the outdated information about
> > THP that's based on code that's been deleted for over a decade.
> >
> > But now we've got AI trained on all this wrong/ out of date information,
> > and, er, "enthusiasts" who are trying to change the correct information
> > in the kernel to match what the deluded AI "thinks" should be true.
> >
> > Let that sink in.

Ugh ye gawds. My attitude is nip this in the bud early.

I'm very harsh in response to these things for a reason - firstly, it's rude,
obnoxious + disrespectful, so a negative response is wholly appropriate.

But more importantly, I want to SET A PRECEDENT that if you send this crap
you'll get a VERY negative response.

Clueless but good faith or bad faith - it's straight up plagiarism and that's
totally unacceptable.

> >
>
> I think we should make it very clear that we don't want doc updates from someone
> that is not a renowned expert in that area or wants to become an expert in that
> area (and already discussed working on the docs with maintainers/experts).
>
> Otherwise we'll have this same discussion over and over again.
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/mm/index.rst b/Documentation/mm/index.rst
> index 7aa2a88869083..8c5721001c8bb 100644
> --- a/Documentation/mm/index.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/mm/index.rst
> @@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ of Linux.  If you are looking for advice on simply allocating
> memory,
>   see the :ref:`memory_allocation`.  For controlling and tuning guides,
>   see the :doc:`admin guide <../admin-guide/mm/index>`.
>
> +A lot of documentation in this guide is still incomplete. If you are not
> +a renowned expert in the specific area, but you want to contribute bigger
> +chunks of documentation, talk to the respective MM experts first. LLM
> +generated slop from non-experts will be rejected without further comments.
> +
>   .. toctree::
>      :maxdepth: 1
>
>
>
> LLMs are just the tip of the iceberg. It will all be developmend-by review with
> inexperienced contributors. And we are only willing to put in the effort to
> teach contributors if the contributors are not actually worth our time: i.e.,
> LLM kiddies that will actually stick around and help the subsystem in the long run.
>
>
> The whole doc update stuff is similar to people just grepping for TODOs in the
> kernel and then using an LLM to produce code they have no idea about.
>
> It's the evolution of typo fixes: review load without any benefit.

Agree with all of that!

Let's do that, happy to give tags on a patch for the above :)

>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> David
>

Cheers, Lorenzo