[PATCH v5 02/12] mm/sparse-vmemmap: allocate shared tail page array dynamically

From: Muchun Song

Date: Sat Sep 26 2026 - 22:55:14 EST


Commit 622026e87c40 ("mm/hugetlb: remove fake head pages") added the
per-zone vmemmap_tails array. Its size depends on MAX_FOLIO_ORDER, which
had been moved to mmzone.h in preparation for the array.

PUD_ORDER is defined by linux/pgtable.h, which cannot be included from
mmzone.h without creating an include cycle. It was therefore open-coded
as PUD_SHIFT - PAGE_SHIFT.

This removed the dependency on PUD_ORDER, but not the underlying
dependency on architecture page-table definitions. PUD_SHIFT is
generally provided by architecture page-table headers, which are not
guaranteed to have been included when mmzone.h is parsed.

The dependency remained hidden because vmemmap_tails was originally
guarded by CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP. Under that condition,
MAX_FOLIO_ORDER resolves to either MAX_PAGE_ORDER or the fixed HugeTLB
limit, rather than the PUD_SHIFT-based definition.

Device DAX, however, does not require CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE. When it is
converted to use section-based vmemmap optimization, MAX_FOLIO_ORDER can
resolve to PUD_SHIFT - PAGE_SHIFT while it is being used to size
vmemmap_tails. This would make struct zone depend on architecture
page-table definitions being available when mmzone.h is parsed.

Replace the embedded array with a pointer and allocate it on first use.
This moves the order-count evaluation into sparse-vmemmap.c, after the
architecture page-table definitions are available, and removes the
dependency from mmzone.h.

Removing the compile-time array also removes the original reason for
keeping MAX_FOLIO_ORDER and the vmemmap optimization sizing definitions
in mmzone.h. Follow-up cleanups can place each definition in the header
owned by its respective subsystem.

Signed-off-by: Muchun Song <songmuchun@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v5:
- Add this patch to fix the RISC-V build failure under the configuration
reported by the kernel test robot
---
include/linux/mmzone.h | 7 +------
mm/sparse-vmemmap.c | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
2 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index acd94cecc0d3..68807ff7f946 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -113,11 +113,6 @@
(VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_PAGES * PAGE_SIZE / sizeof(struct page))
#define VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_MIN_ORDER (ilog2(VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_STRUCT_PAGES) + 1)

-#define __VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS \
- (MAX_FOLIO_ORDER - VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_MIN_ORDER + 1)
-#define VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS \
- (__VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS > 0 ? __VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS : 0)
-
enum migratetype {
MIGRATE_UNMOVABLE,
MIGRATE_MOVABLE,
@@ -1156,7 +1151,7 @@ struct zone {
atomic_long_t vm_stat[NR_VM_ZONE_STAT_ITEMS];
atomic_long_t vm_numa_event[NR_VM_NUMA_EVENT_ITEMS];
#ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP
- struct page *vmemmap_tails[VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS];
+ struct page **vmemmap_tails;
#endif
} ____cacheline_internodealigned_in_smp;

diff --git a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
index 9b00085122b2..46d9a25b3275 100644
--- a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
+++ b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
@@ -170,16 +170,43 @@ static void * __meminit vmemmap_alloc_block_zero(unsigned long size, int node)
}

#ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP
+#define VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS (MAX_FOLIO_ORDER - VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_MIN_ORDER + 1)
+
+static __ref struct page **vmemmap_tails_alloc(struct zone *zone)
+{
+ struct page **pages;
+ const size_t size = array_size(VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS, sizeof(*pages));
+
+ pages = slab_is_available() ? kzalloc_objs(*pages, VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS) :
+ memblock_alloc(size, __alignof__(*pages));
+ if (!pages)
+ return NULL;
+
+ if (cmpxchg(&zone->vmemmap_tails, NULL, pages) != NULL) {
+ if (slab_is_available())
+ kfree(pages);
+ else
+ memblock_free(pages, size);
+ pages = READ_ONCE(zone->vmemmap_tails);
+ }
+
+ return pages;
+}
+
struct page __ref *vmemmap_shared_tail_page(unsigned int order, struct zone *zone)
{
void *addr;
- struct page *page;
+ struct page *page, **pages;
const unsigned int idx = order - VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_MIN_ORDER;

if (WARN_ON_ONCE(idx >= VMEMMAP_OPTIMIZATION_NR_ORDERS))
return NULL;

- page = READ_ONCE(zone->vmemmap_tails[idx]);
+ pages = READ_ONCE(zone->vmemmap_tails) ? : vmemmap_tails_alloc(zone);
+ if (!pages)
+ return NULL;
+
+ page = READ_ONCE(pages[idx]);
if (likely(page))
return page;

@@ -194,12 +221,12 @@ struct page __ref *vmemmap_shared_tail_page(unsigned int order, struct zone *zon
}

page = virt_to_page(addr);
- if (cmpxchg(&zone->vmemmap_tails[idx], NULL, page) != NULL) {
+ if (cmpxchg(&pages[idx], NULL, page) != NULL) {
if (slab_is_available())
__free_page(page);
else
memblock_free(addr, PAGE_SIZE);
- page = READ_ONCE(zone->vmemmap_tails[idx]);
+ page = READ_ONCE(pages[idx]);
}

return page;
--
2.54.0