[PATCH bpf-next v3 1/2] mm/bpf: Add bpf_proactive_reclaim kfuncs

From: Hui Zhu

Date: Wed Aug 19 2026 - 02:37:16 EST


From: Hui Zhu <zhuhui@xxxxxxxxxx>

Expose memcg proactive reclaim to sleepable BPF programs:
unsigned long bpf_proactive_reclaim(memcg, size);
unsigned long bpf_proactive_reclaim_swappiness(memcg, size, swappiness);

They perform one reclaim pass on @memcg, like a write to memory.reclaim:
swap is allowed, and the anon/file balance follows the cgroup's
swappiness or an explicit override in [MIN_SWAPPINESS, MAX_SWAPPINESS]
plus SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY. Both go through a shared helper,
bpf_proactive_reclaim_pages(), which guards against reclaim recursion
and calls try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages() with GFP_KERNEL and
MEMCG_RECLAIM_MAY_SWAP | MEMCG_RECLAIM_PROACTIVE, the same parameters
user_proactive_reclaim() uses, and unlike memory.reclaim they do not
retry until @size is reached.

Reclaim must not recurse: try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages() overwrites
current->reclaim_state on entry and NULLs it on exit, so a nested call
from an in-flight reclaim would corrupt the outer reclaim state (e.g.
MGLRU dereferences current->reclaim_state->mm_walk). Both kfuncs
therefore refuse to reclaim when PF_MEMALLOC is set, mirroring the
guards in the memcg charging path and node_reclaim().

Signed-off-by: Hui Zhu <zhuhui@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/bpf_memcontrol.c | 101 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 101 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/bpf_memcontrol.c b/mm/bpf_memcontrol.c
index 716df49d7647..b0a0d4c55dc4 100644
--- a/mm/bpf_memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/bpf_memcontrol.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
*/

#include <linux/memcontrol.h>
+#include <linux/swap.h>
#include <linux/bpf.h>

__bpf_kfunc_start_defs();
@@ -159,6 +160,103 @@ __bpf_kfunc void bpf_mem_cgroup_flush_stats(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
mem_cgroup_flush_stats(memcg);
}

+/*
+ * Reclaim must not recurse. try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages() unconditionally
+ * overwrites current->reclaim_state on entry and resets it to NULL on exit.
+ * So invoking it from an in-flight reclaim would clobber the outer reclaim
+ * state and corrupt its accounting.
+ *
+ * The guard is PF_MEMALLOC. Every reclaim entry point marks the current
+ * task with it for the whole reclaim window: try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages()
+ * and __perform_reclaim() do so via memalloc_noreclaim_save(), and kswapd
+ * keeps it set for its entire lifetime. A hook inside the reclaim path
+ * (shrink_node, shrink_slab, ...) executes in the context of the
+ * reclaiming task, where current->flags already carries the flag. The page
+ * allocator, the memcg charging path and node_reclaim() rely on the same
+ * flag to avoid reclaim recursion.
+ *
+ * In try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages(), reclaim_state is set slightly before
+ * PF_MEMALLOC, with only a tracepoint in between, which a sleepable BPF
+ * program cannot attach to.
+ * Also, PF_MEMALLOC is set in some non-reclaim contexts (e.g. direct compaction
+ * and vmalloc), where the kfunc conservatively refuses to reclaim as well.
+ */
+static bool bpf_in_reclaim_context(void)
+{
+ return current->flags & PF_MEMALLOC;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Shared implementation of the proactive reclaim kfuncs: performs one
+ * reclaim pass on @memcg with @nr_pages as the goal, allowing swap, and
+ * @swappiness as the anon/file balance override (NULL to follow the
+ * cgroup's own swappiness setting).
+ */
+static unsigned long
+bpf_proactive_reclaim_pages(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, unsigned long nr_pages,
+ int *swappiness)
+{
+ if (!nr_pages || unlikely(bpf_in_reclaim_context()))
+ return 0;
+
+ return try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages(memcg, nr_pages, GFP_KERNEL,
+ MEMCG_RECLAIM_MAY_SWAP |
+ MEMCG_RECLAIM_PROACTIVE,
+ swappiness);
+}
+
+/**
+ * bpf_proactive_reclaim - proactively reclaim memory from a memory
+ * cgroup
+ * @memcg: the target memory cgroup to reclaim from
+ * @size: the amount of memory to reclaim, in bytes
+ *
+ * Trigger one proactive reclaim pass on @memcg, similar to a write to
+ * the memory.reclaim cgroup file: pages are reclaimed according to the
+ * cgroup's own swappiness setting and swap is allowed. Note that,
+ * unlike memory.reclaim, this does not retry until @size is reached;
+ * callers can invoke it again if needed.
+ *
+ * Return:
+ * The number of pages actually reclaimed, or 0 if @size is smaller
+ * than a page or the calling task is already in a reclaim/freeing
+ * context (PF_MEMALLOC).
+ */
+__bpf_kfunc unsigned long bpf_proactive_reclaim(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
+ unsigned long size)
+{
+ return bpf_proactive_reclaim_pages(memcg, size / PAGE_SIZE, NULL);
+}
+
+/**
+ * bpf_proactive_reclaim_swappiness - proactively reclaim memory from a
+ * memory cgroup with an explicit
+ * swappiness
+ * @memcg: the target memory cgroup to reclaim from
+ * @size: the amount of memory to reclaim, in bytes
+ * @swappiness: swappiness override for this reclaim pass
+ *
+ * Same as bpf_proactive_reclaim(), except that the anon/file reclaim
+ * balance is controlled by @swappiness instead of the cgroup's
+ * swappiness setting. Valid values are [MIN_SWAPPINESS, MAX_SWAPPINESS]
+ * and SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY, which restricts reclaim to anon folios.
+ *
+ * Return:
+ * The number of pages actually reclaimed, or 0 if @size is smaller
+ * than a page, @swappiness is out of range, or the calling task is
+ * already in a reclaim/freeing context (PF_MEMALLOC).
+ */
+__bpf_kfunc unsigned long
+bpf_proactive_reclaim_swappiness(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, unsigned long size,
+ int swappiness)
+{
+ if (swappiness < MIN_SWAPPINESS || swappiness > SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY)
+ return 0;
+
+ return bpf_proactive_reclaim_pages(memcg, size / PAGE_SIZE,
+ &swappiness);
+}
+
__bpf_kfunc_end_defs();

BTF_KFUNCS_START(bpf_memcontrol_kfuncs)
@@ -172,6 +270,9 @@ BTF_ID_FLAGS(func, bpf_mem_cgroup_usage)
BTF_ID_FLAGS(func, bpf_mem_cgroup_page_state)
BTF_ID_FLAGS(func, bpf_mem_cgroup_flush_stats, KF_SLEEPABLE)

+BTF_ID_FLAGS(func, bpf_proactive_reclaim, KF_SLEEPABLE)
+BTF_ID_FLAGS(func, bpf_proactive_reclaim_swappiness, KF_SLEEPABLE)
+
BTF_KFUNCS_END(bpf_memcontrol_kfuncs)

static const struct btf_kfunc_id_set bpf_memcontrol_kfunc_set = {
--
2.53.0