[PATCH v3 02/12] mm: hugetlb_vmemmap: unify VMEMMAP_{SPLIT,REMAP}_NO_TLB_FLUSH

From: Muchun Song

Date: Tue Nov 03 2026 - 21:42:50 EST


VMEMMAP_SPLIT_NO_TLB_FLUSH and VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH do not
describe fully independent choices. A split-only walk can defer the
PMD-split flush to a later global flush, and a remap-only walk can
defer the final remap flush. However, when a PMD split is followed
by PTE remapping, the split flush must happen before the PTEs are
changed, because stale large-page translations must not overlap with
new small-page translations that map different physical pages.

Replace the two flags with a single VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH flag. The
new name reflects that only safely batchable flushes are deferred. Keep
split-only walks able to defer the flush, but force the split flush
whenever a remap_pte callback is present. Callers that batch HVO work
can still defer the final remap flush and issue their own global flush.

Current callers keep the same flushing behavior.

Signed-off-by: Muchun Song <songmuchun@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Lance Yang <lance.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Qi Zheng <qi.zheng@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
- Rename the unified flag to VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH and update its
comment (suggested by Qi Zheng)
- Update the commit message for the new flag name
- Collect Reviewed-by from Lance Yang and Qi Zheng
---
mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c | 23 +++++++++++++----------
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c b/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
index 4b73d6ec8dce..63e899cfaac3 100644
--- a/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
+++ b/mm/hugetlb_vmemmap.c
@@ -42,10 +42,8 @@ struct vmemmap_remap_walk {
struct list_head *vmemmap_pages;


-/* Skip the TLB flush when we split the PMD */
-#define VMEMMAP_SPLIT_NO_TLB_FLUSH BIT(0)
-/* Skip the TLB flush when we remap the PTE */
-#define VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH BIT(1)
+/* Defer safely batchable TLB flushes to the caller. */
+#define VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH BIT(0)
unsigned long flags;
};

@@ -85,7 +83,12 @@ static int vmemmap_split_pmd(pmd_t *pmd, struct page *head, unsigned long start,
/* Make pte visible before pmd. See comment in pmd_install(). */
smp_wmb();
pmd_populate_kernel(&init_mm, pmd, pgtable);
- if (!(walk->flags & VMEMMAP_SPLIT_NO_TLB_FLUSH))
+ /*
+ * Modern MMUs allow overlapping TLB entries with different mapping
+ * granularities only if they map the same physical address. So
+ * remapping must not proceed without first flushing the TLB.
+ */
+ if (walk->remap_pte || !(walk->flags & VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH))
flush_tlb_kernel_range(start, start + PMD_SIZE);
} else {
pte_free_kernel(&init_mm, pgtable);
@@ -166,7 +169,7 @@ static int vmemmap_remap_range(unsigned long start, unsigned long end,
if (ret)
return ret;

- if (walk->remap_pte && !(walk->flags & VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH))
+ if (walk->remap_pte && !(walk->flags & VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH))
flush_tlb_kernel_range(start, end);

return 0;
@@ -274,7 +277,7 @@ static int vmemmap_remap_split(unsigned long start, unsigned long end)
{
struct vmemmap_remap_walk walk = {
.remap_pte = NULL,
- .flags = VMEMMAP_SPLIT_NO_TLB_FLUSH,
+ .flags = VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH,
};

return vmemmap_remap_range(start, end, &walk);
@@ -458,7 +461,7 @@ long hugetlb_vmemmap_restore_folios(const struct hstate *h,
struct folio *folio, *t_folio;
long restored = 0;
long ret = 0;
- unsigned long flags = VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH;
+ unsigned long flags = VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH;

list_for_each_entry_safe(folio, t_folio, folio_list, lru) {
if (folio_test_hugetlb_vmemmap_optimized(folio)) {
@@ -516,7 +519,7 @@ static int __hugetlb_vmemmap_optimize_folio(const struct hstate *h,

/*
* Very Subtle
- * If VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH is set, TLB flushing is not performed
+ * If VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH is set, TLB flushing is not performed
* immediately after remapping. As a result, subsequent accesses
* and modifications to struct pages associated with the hugetlb
* page could be to the OLD struct pages. Set the vmemmap optimized
@@ -595,7 +598,7 @@ void hugetlb_vmemmap_optimize_folios(struct hstate *h, struct list_head *folio_l
struct folio *folio;
unsigned long nr_to_optimize = 0;
LIST_HEAD(vmemmap_pages);
- unsigned long flags = VMEMMAP_REMAP_NO_TLB_FLUSH;
+ unsigned long flags = VMEMMAP_DEFER_TLB_FLUSH;

if (list_empty(folio_list))
return;
--
2.54.0