[PATCH v3 1/1] selftests/mm: skip soft-dirty tests when CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled

[PATCH v3 1/1] selftests/mm: skip soft-dirty tests when CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled

[Lance Yang]

From: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>

The madv_populate and soft-dirty kselftests currently fail on systems where
CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled.

Introduce a new helper softdirty_supported() into vm_util.c/h to ensure
tests are properly skipped when the feature is not enabled.

Acked-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>
---
v2 -> v3:
 - Optimize softdirty_supported() by directly assigning check_vmflag()
   result (per David)
 - Pick AB from David - thanks!
 - https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250917122750.36608-1-lance.yang@linux.dev

v1 -> v2:
 - Rename softdirty_is_supported() to softdirty_supported() (per David)
 - Drop aarch64 specific handling (per David)
 - https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250917055913.49759-1-lance.yang@linux.dev

 tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c | 21 ++-------------------
 tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c    |  5 ++++-
 tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c       | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.h       |  1 +
 4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
index b6fabd5c27ed..d8d11bc67ddc 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
@@ -264,23 +264,6 @@ static void test_softdirty(void)
 	munmap(addr, SIZE);
 }
 
-static int system_has_softdirty(void)
-{
-	/*
-	 * There is no way to check if the kernel supports soft-dirty, other
-	 * than by writing to a page and seeing if the bit was set. But the
-	 * tests are intended to check that the bit gets set when it should, so
-	 * doing that check would turn a potentially legitimate fail into a
-	 * skip. Fortunately, we know for sure that arm64 does not support
-	 * soft-dirty. So for now, let's just use the arch as a corse guide.
-	 */
-#if defined(__aarch64__)
-	return 0;
-#else
-	return 1;
-#endif
-}
-
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	int nr_tests = 16;
@@ -288,7 +271,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 	pagesize = getpagesize();
 
-	if (system_has_softdirty())
+	if (softdirty_supported())
 		nr_tests += 5;
 
 	ksft_print_header();
@@ -300,7 +283,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	test_holes();
 	test_populate_read();
 	test_populate_write();
-	if (system_has_softdirty())
+	if (softdirty_supported())
 		test_softdirty();
 
 	err = ksft_get_fail_cnt();
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
index 8a3f2b4b2186..4ee4db3750c1 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
@@ -200,8 +200,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	int pagesize;
 
 	ksft_print_header();
-	ksft_set_plan(15);
 
+	if (!softdirty_supported())
+		ksft_exit_skip("soft-dirty is not support\n");
+
+	ksft_set_plan(15);
 	pagemap_fd = open(PAGEMAP_FILE_PATH, O_RDONLY);
 	if (pagemap_fd < 0)
 		ksft_exit_fail_msg("Failed to open %s\n", PAGEMAP_FILE_PATH);
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
index 56e9bd541edd..e33cda301dad 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
@@ -449,6 +449,23 @@ bool check_vmflag_pfnmap(void *addr)
 	return check_vmflag(addr, "pf");
 }
 
+bool softdirty_supported(void)
+{
+	char *addr;
+	bool supported = false;
+	const size_t pagesize = getpagesize();
+
+	/* New mappings are expected to be marked with VM_SOFTDIRTY (sd). */
+	addr = mmap(0, pagesize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+		    MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_PRIVATE, 0, 0);
+	if (!addr)
+		ksft_exit_fail_msg("mmap failed\n");
+
+	supported = check_vmflag(addr, "sd");
+	munmap(addr, pagesize);
+	return supported;
+}
+
 /*
  * Open an fd at /proc/$pid/maps and configure procmap_out ready for
  * PROCMAP_QUERY query. Returns 0 on success, or an error code otherwise.
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.h b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.h
index 07c4acfd84b6..26c30fdc0241 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.h
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.h
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ bool find_vma_procmap(struct procmap_fd *procmap, void *address);
 int close_procmap(struct procmap_fd *procmap);
 int write_sysfs(const char *file_path, unsigned long val);
 int read_sysfs(const char *file_path, unsigned long *val);
+bool softdirty_supported(void);
 
 static inline int open_self_procmap(struct procmap_fd *procmap_out)
 {
-- 
2.49.0

Re: [PATCH v3 1/1] selftests/mm: skip soft-dirty tests when CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled

[Andrew Morton]

On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:31:37 +0800 Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev> wrote:

> The madv_populate and soft-dirty kselftests currently fail on systems where
> CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled.
> 
> Introduce a new helper softdirty_supported() into vm_util.c/h to ensure
> tests are properly skipped when the feature is not enabled.

It's pretty sad for us to ship kernels which have known selftest flaws
like this.

would

	Fixes: 9f3265db6ae8 ("selftests: vm: add test for Soft-Dirty PTE bit")

be appropriate?

Re: [PATCH v3 1/1] selftests/mm: skip soft-dirty tests when CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled

[Lance Yang]

On 2025/9/18 06:30, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 21:31:37 +0800 Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev> wrote:
> 
>> The madv_populate and soft-dirty kselftests currently fail on systems where
>> CONFIG_MEM_SOFT_DIRTY is disabled.
>>
>> Introduce a new helper softdirty_supported() into vm_util.c/h to ensure
>> tests are properly skipped when the feature is not enabled.
> 
> It's pretty sad for us to ship kernels which have known selftest flaws
> like this.
> 
> would
> 
> 	Fixes: 9f3265db6ae8 ("selftests: vm: add test for Soft-Dirty PTE bit")
> 
> be appropriate?

Yes. Thanks for providing the Fixes: tag!