[PATCH slab/for-next v4 2/8] mm/slab: handle the !allow_spin case in kfree_rcu_sheaf()

From: Harry Yoo (Oracle)

Date: Mon Jul 20 2026 - 09:09:54 EST


Teach kfree_rcu_sheaf() how to handle the !allow_spin case. Try to get
an empty sheaf from pcs->spare or the barn even when spinning is not
allowed. Unlike __pcs_replace_full_main(), try harder to allocate
an empty sheaf because the fallback path will be more expensive than
kfree_nolock().

Now that slab has internal alloc_flags to describe context, introduce
free_flags analogously and convert free_flags to alloc_flags when
allocating memory in the free path. alloc_empty_sheaf() now strips
__GFP_RECLAIM when SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK is specified.

When trylock fails or the kernel observes non-NULL pcs->rcu_free after
lock acquisition, free the sheaf instead of putting it to the barn.
This is rare and not worth complicating the code.

Since call_rcu() cannot be called in an unknown context,
kfree_rcu_sheaf() fails when the rcu sheaf becomes full.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/872bd673-3d45-4111-8a41-31185db3ece5@xxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo (Oracle) <harry@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/slab.h | 18 +++++++++++++++++-
mm/slab_common.c | 2 +-
mm/slub.c | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
3 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/slab.h b/mm/slab.h
index 281a65233795..85ef2ebc9812 100644
--- a/mm/slab.h
+++ b/mm/slab.h
@@ -23,11 +23,27 @@
#define SLAB_ALLOC_NEW_SLAB 0x02 /* a flag for alloc_slab_obj_exts() */
#define SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE 0x04 /* prevent kmalloc() recursion */

+#define SLAB_FREE_DEFAULT 0x00 /* no flags */
+#define SLAB_FREE_NOLOCK 0x01 /* spinning not allowed */
+
+static inline unsigned int to_alloc_flags(unsigned int free_flags)
+{
+ if (free_flags & SLAB_FREE_NOLOCK)
+ return SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK;
+ else
+ return SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT;
+}
+
static inline bool alloc_flags_allow_spinning(const unsigned int alloc_flags)
{
return !(alloc_flags & SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK);
}

+static inline bool free_flags_allow_spinning(const unsigned int free_flags)
+{
+ return !(free_flags & SLAB_FREE_NOLOCK);
+}
+
void *__kmalloc_flags_noprof(DECL_TOKEN_PARAMS(size, token), gfp_t flags,
unsigned int alloc_flags, int node)
__assume_kmalloc_alignment __alloc_size(1);
@@ -429,7 +445,7 @@ static inline bool is_kmalloc_normal(struct kmem_cache *s)
return !(s->flags & (SLAB_CACHE_DMA|SLAB_ACCOUNT|SLAB_RECLAIM_ACCOUNT));
}

-bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj);
+bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj, unsigned int free_flags);
void flush_all_rcu_sheaves(void);
void flush_rcu_sheaves_on_cache(struct kmem_cache *s);

diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
index b6426d7ceec9..e07b4e6d6679 100644
--- a/mm/slab_common.c
+++ b/mm/slab_common.c
@@ -1605,7 +1605,7 @@ static bool kfree_rcu_sheaf(void *obj)

s = slab->slab_cache;
if (likely(!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_NUMA) || slab_nid(slab) == numa_mem_id()))
- return __kfree_rcu_sheaf(s, obj);
+ return __kfree_rcu_sheaf(s, obj, SLAB_FREE_DEFAULT);

return false;
}
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index e32a68677537..0c350274fbff 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -2814,10 +2814,14 @@ static inline struct slab_sheaf *alloc_empty_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s,

gfp &= ~OBJCGS_CLEAR_MASK;

+ if (alloc_flags & SLAB_ALLOC_NOLOCK)
+ gfp &= ~__GFP_RECLAIM;
+
return __alloc_empty_sheaf(s, gfp, alloc_flags, s->sheaf_capacity);
}

-static void free_empty_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab_sheaf *sheaf)
+static void __free_empty_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab_sheaf *sheaf,
+ bool allow_spin)
{
/*
* If the sheaf was created with SLAB_ALLOC_NO_RECURSE flag then its
@@ -2829,11 +2833,20 @@ static void free_empty_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab_sheaf *sheaf)
mark_obj_codetag_empty(sheaf);

VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(sheaf->size > 0);
- kfree(sheaf);
+
+ if (likely(allow_spin))
+ kfree(sheaf);
+ else
+ kfree_nolock(sheaf);

stat(s, SHEAF_FREE);
}

+static void free_empty_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab_sheaf *sheaf)
+{
+ __free_empty_sheaf(s, sheaf, /* allow_spin = */ true);
+}
+
static unsigned int
refill_objects(struct kmem_cache *s, void **p, gfp_t gfp, unsigned int min,
unsigned int max);
@@ -6044,10 +6057,11 @@ static void rcu_free_sheaf(struct rcu_head *head)
*/
static DEFINE_WAIT_OVERRIDE_MAP(kfree_rcu_sheaf_map, LD_WAIT_CONFIG);

-bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj)
+bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj, unsigned int free_flags)
{
struct slub_percpu_sheaves *pcs;
struct slab_sheaf *rcu_sheaf;
+ bool allow_spin = free_flags_allow_spinning(free_flags);

if (WARN_ON_ONCE(IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT)))
return false;
@@ -6060,9 +6074,9 @@ bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj)
pcs = this_cpu_ptr(s->cpu_sheaves);

if (unlikely(!pcs->rcu_free)) {
-
struct slab_sheaf *empty;
struct node_barn *barn;
+ unsigned int alloc_flags = to_alloc_flags(free_flags);

/* Bootstrap or debug cache, fall back */
if (unlikely(!cache_has_sheaves(s))) {
@@ -6082,7 +6096,7 @@ bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj)
goto fail;
}

- empty = barn_get_empty_sheaf(barn, true);
+ empty = barn_get_empty_sheaf(barn, allow_spin);

if (empty) {
pcs->rcu_free = empty;
@@ -6091,20 +6105,20 @@ bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj)

local_unlock(&s->cpu_sheaves->lock);

- empty = alloc_empty_sheaf(s, GFP_NOWAIT, SLAB_ALLOC_DEFAULT);
+ empty = alloc_empty_sheaf(s, GFP_NOWAIT, alloc_flags);

if (!empty)
goto fail;

if (!local_trylock(&s->cpu_sheaves->lock)) {
- barn_put_empty_sheaf(barn, empty);
+ __free_empty_sheaf(s, empty, allow_spin);
goto fail;
}

pcs = this_cpu_ptr(s->cpu_sheaves);

if (unlikely(pcs->rcu_free))
- barn_put_empty_sheaf(barn, empty);
+ __free_empty_sheaf(s, empty, allow_spin);
else
pcs->rcu_free = empty;
}
@@ -6122,6 +6136,12 @@ bool __kfree_rcu_sheaf(struct kmem_cache *s, void *obj)
if (likely(rcu_sheaf->size < s->sheaf_capacity)) {
rcu_sheaf = NULL;
} else {
+ if (unlikely(!allow_spin)) {
+ /* call_rcu() cannot be called in an unknown context */
+ rcu_sheaf->size--;
+ local_unlock(&s->cpu_sheaves->lock);
+ goto fail;
+ }
pcs->rcu_free = NULL;
rcu_sheaf->node = numa_node_id();
}

--
2.53.0