Re: [PATCH v3 05/14] mm, swap: add sysfs create interface for xswap

[Chris Li]

On Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 12:20 AM Baoquan He <hebaoquan@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> xswap devices have no backing storage, so there is no file to swapon.
> Add a sysfs interface to create them directly:
>   /sys/kernel/mm/xswap/create    write an optional priority to create
>                                  a device (empty = DEF_SWAP_PRIO)
>
> A new device is created with si->max and nr_clusters_max both equal to
> twice RAM: the cluster_info array is a sparse VM_SPARSE area mapped
> lazily, so an idle device costs nothing. The runtime size can be
> lowered per device afterwards via
> /sys/kernel/mm/xswap/type<N>/limit (added later in this series).
> The optional priority follows swapon(2)'s -p semantics (default
> DEF_SWAP_PRIO, valid range -1..SWAP_FLAG_PRIO_MASK). The device shows
> up in /proc/swaps as "xswap<N>".
>
> Hibernation device discovery skips xswap devices: they have no bdev
> to carry a resume image.

The sysfs method for creating xswap is workable but not ideal in my mind.

It lacks /etc/fstab support. I wish xswap also supported /etc/fstab.
There is no standard swap on/swap off mechanism for this device.

My ideal solution would treat xswap as a swap file system. The swap
header block is the equivalent of a file system superblock.
It would have a 4K size swap header, but it would not contain any swap
data. You can think of it as a config spec file for the xswap device.
We will need to introduce one flag for XSWAP and maybe a swap file
system type name.

We will also need to modify the mkswap to create the xswap header.
Alternatively, we could introduce a `mkxswap.c` ourself. It is pretty
simple: just write out a C struct with a UUID. We can make that part
of the self test units. Maybe there is better location for it.

Those are the pretty standard ways to extend new features to a file
system. That is my north star for considering a VFS like subsystem for
swap.

Chris

>
> Signed-off-by: Baoquan He <hebaoquan@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  mm/swapfile.c | 163 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 158 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/swapfile.c b/mm/swapfile.c
> index dac5e0db0e94..b0edf5421fc5 100644
> --- a/mm/swapfile.c
> +++ b/mm/swapfile.c
> @@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
>  #include <linux/kernel_stat.h>
>  #include <linux/swap.h>
>  #include <linux/vmalloc.h>
> +#include <linux/kobject.h>
> +#include <linux/sysfs.h>
>  #include <linux/pagemap.h>
>  #include <linux/namei.h>
>  #include <linux/shmem_fs.h>
> @@ -48,6 +50,7 @@
>  #include "swap_table.h"
>  #include "internal.h"
>  #include "swap.h"
> +#define DEF_SWAP_PRIO  -1
>
>  #ifdef CONFIG_XSWAP
>  /*
> @@ -66,7 +69,64 @@ static int xswap_map_clusters(struct swap_info_struct *si,
>  static void xswap_unmap_clusters(struct swap_info_struct *si,
>                                  unsigned long start_idx, unsigned long nr);
>  static int xswap_mapped_end(pte_t *pte, unsigned long addr, void *data);
> -#endif
> +
> +static int xswap_create(int prio);
> +
> +static ssize_t xswap_create_store(struct kobject *kobj,
> +                                 struct kobj_attribute *attr,
> +                                 const char *buf, size_t count)
> +{
> +       int prio = DEF_SWAP_PRIO;
> +       int err;
> +
> +       if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
> +               return -EPERM;
> +
> +       /* "[<prio>]" is optional; empty means DEF_SWAP_PRIO, i.e. the same
> +        * default as swapon(2) without SWAP_FLAG_PREFER.
> +        */
> +       if (*skip_spaces(buf)) {
> +               err = kstrtoint(buf, 10, &prio);
> +               if (err)
> +                       return err;
> +       }
> +
> +       err = xswap_create(prio);
> +       if (err < 0)
> +               return err;
> +
> +       return count;
> +}
> +
> +static struct kobj_attribute xswap_create_attr = __ATTR(create, 0200, NULL,
> +                                                       xswap_create_store);
> +
> +static struct attribute *xswap_attrs[] = {
> +       &xswap_create_attr.attr,
> +       NULL,
> +};
> +
> +static const struct attribute_group xswap_attr_group = {
> +       .attrs = xswap_attrs,
> +};
> +
> +static struct kobject *xswap_kobj;
> +
> +static void xswap_sysfs_init(void)
> +{
> +       xswap_kobj = kobject_create_and_add("xswap", mm_kobj);
> +       if (!xswap_kobj) {
> +               pr_err("xswap: failed to create sysfs kobject\n");
> +               return;
> +       }
> +       if (sysfs_create_group(xswap_kobj, &xswap_attr_group))
> +               pr_err("xswap: failed to create sysfs group\n");
> +}
> +#else /* !CONFIG_XSWAP */
> +static inline void xswap_sysfs_init(void)
> +{
> +}
> +#endif /* CONFIG_XSWAP */
>
>  static void swap_range_alloc(struct swap_info_struct *si,
>                              unsigned int nr_entries);
> @@ -94,7 +154,6 @@ atomic_t nr_real_swapfiles;
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nr_swap_pages);
>  /* protected with swap_lock. reading in vm_swap_full() doesn't need lock */
>  long total_swap_pages;
> -#define DEF_SWAP_PRIO  -1
>  unsigned long swapfile_maximum_size;
>  #ifdef CONFIG_MIGRATION
>  bool swap_migration_ad_supported;
> @@ -2275,6 +2334,9 @@ static int __find_hibernation_swap_type(dev_t device, sector_t offset)
>
>                 if (!(sis->flags & SWP_WRITEOK))
>                         continue;
> +               /* xswap has no bdev to match a resume device */
> +               if (sis->flags & SWP_XSWAP)
> +                       continue;
>
>                 if (device == sis->bdev->bd_dev) {
>                         struct swap_extent *se = first_se(sis);
> @@ -2462,6 +2524,8 @@ int find_first_swap(dev_t *device)
>
>                 if (!(sis->flags & SWP_WRITEOK))
>                         continue;
> +               if (sis->flags & SWP_XSWAP)
> +                       continue;
>                 *device = sis->bdev->bd_dev;
>                 spin_unlock(&swap_lock);
>                 return type;
> @@ -3423,7 +3487,7 @@ static void *swap_start(struct seq_file *swap, loff_t *pos)
>                 return SEQ_START_TOKEN;
>
>         for (type = 0; (si = swap_type_to_info(type)); type++) {
> -               if (!(si->swap_file))
> +               if (!(si->swap_file) && !(si->flags & SWP_XSWAP))
>                         continue;
>                 if (!--l)
>                         return si;
> @@ -3444,7 +3508,7 @@ static void *swap_next(struct seq_file *swap, void *v, loff_t *pos)
>
>         ++(*pos);
>         for (; (si = swap_type_to_info(type)); type++) {
> -               if (!(si->swap_file))
> +               if (!(si->swap_file) && !(si->flags & SWP_XSWAP))
>                         continue;
>                 return si;
>         }
> @@ -3486,7 +3550,14 @@ static int swap_show(struct seq_file *swap, void *v)
>         inuse = K(swap_usage_in_pages(si));
>
>         file = si->swap_file;
> -       len = seq_file_path(swap, file, " \t\n\\");
> +       if (file)
> +               len = seq_file_path(swap, file, " \t\n\\");
> +       else {
> +               char name[16];
> +
> +               len = scnprintf(name, sizeof(name), "xswap%d", si->type);
> +               seq_puts(swap, name);
> +       }
>         seq_printf(swap, "%*s%s\t%lu\t%s%lu\t%s%d\n",
>                         len < 40 ? 40 - len : 1, " ",
>                         swap_type_str(si),
> @@ -4034,6 +4105,86 @@ static int setup_swap_clusters_info(struct swap_info_struct *si,
>         return err;
>  }
>
> +#ifdef CONFIG_XSWAP
> +/* Create a file-less xswap device.  si->max and the initial nr_clusters
> + * ceiling are both twice RAM; the runtime size can be lowered afterwards
> + * via /sys/kernel/mm/xswap/type<N>/limit.
> + */
> +static int xswap_create(int prio)
> +{
> +       struct swap_info_struct *si;
> +       unsigned long ram, maxpages;
> +       int error;
> +
> +       if (prio != DEF_SWAP_PRIO && (prio < 0 || prio > SWAP_FLAG_PRIO_MASK))
> +               return -EINVAL;
> +
> +       si = alloc_swap_info();
> +       if (IS_ERR(si))
> +               return PTR_ERR(si);
> +
> +       INIT_WORK(&si->discard_work, swap_discard_work);
> +       INIT_WORK(&si->reclaim_work, swap_reclaim_work);
> +
> +       ram = totalram_pages();
> +       maxpages = min_t(unsigned long, ram * 2, swapfile_maximum_size);
> +       /* si->max is an unsigned int: don't overflow it. */
> +       if (maxpages > UINT_MAX)
> +               maxpages = UINT_MAX;
> +       /* Cluster-aligned, so no cluster holds a slot past si->max. */
> +       if (maxpages > SWAPFILE_CLUSTER)
> +               maxpages = rounddown(maxpages, SWAPFILE_CLUSTER);
> +       if (maxpages < 2)
> +               maxpages = 2;
> +
> +       si->bdev = NULL;
> +       si->flags |= SWP_XSWAP | SWP_SOLIDSTATE;
> +       si->max = maxpages;
> +       si->pages = maxpages - 1;
> +       /*
> +        * No backing file: setup_swap_extents() is only reachable from the
> +        * file-backed swapon() path, so set ops here.  Only ops->flags is
> +        * used, by may_enter_fs(); the IO methods are never called because
> +        * swap_writeout()/swap_read_folio() short circuit xswap.
> +        */
> +       si->ops = &swap_bdev_ops;
> +
> +       error = setup_swap_clusters_info(si, NULL, maxpages);
> +       if (error)
> +               goto bad_swap;
> +
> +       error = zswap_swapon(si->type, si->max);
> +       if (error)
> +               goto bad_swap;
> +
> +       mutex_lock(&swapon_mutex);
> +       si->prio = prio;
> +       si->list.prio = -si->prio;
> +       si->avail_list.prio = -si->prio;
> +       /* si->swap_file stays NULL: this is a file-less device */
> +       enable_swap_info(si);
> +       mutex_unlock(&swapon_mutex);
> +
> +       pr_info("xswap: adding extendable swap type %d (prio %d, %u pages, max %lu)\n",
> +               si->type, prio, si->pages, maxpages);
> +       atomic_inc(&proc_poll_event);
> +       wake_up_interruptible(&proc_poll_wait);
> +
> +       return si->type;
> +
> +bad_swap:
> +       kfree(si->global_cluster);
> +       si->global_cluster = NULL;
> +       destroy_swap_extents(si, NULL); /* safe: xswap never sets SWP_ACTIVATED */
> +       free_swap_cluster_info(si);
> +       si->cluster_info = NULL;
> +       spin_lock(&swap_lock);
> +       si->flags = 0;
> +       spin_unlock(&swap_lock);
> +       return error;
> +}
> +#endif /* CONFIG_XSWAP */
> +
>  SYSCALL_DEFINE2(swapon, const char __user *, specialfile, int, swap_flags)
>  {
>         struct swap_info_struct *si;
> @@ -4380,6 +4531,8 @@ static int __init swapfile_init(void)
>                 swap_migration_ad_supported = true;
>  #endif /* CONFIG_MIGRATION */
>
> +       xswap_sysfs_init();
> +
>         return 0;
>  }
>  subsys_initcall(swapfile_init);
> --
> 2.54.0
>