From: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>,
Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>,
Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>,
Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>, Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>,
David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>,
"Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>,
Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com>,
Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Subject: [PATCH mm-unstable v3 2/3] mm/page_alloc: refactor the initial compaction handling
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:52:37 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260106-thp-thisnode-tweak-v3-2-f5d67c21a193@suse.cz> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260106-thp-thisnode-tweak-v3-0-f5d67c21a193@suse.cz>
The initial direct compaction done in some cases in
__alloc_pages_slowpath() stands out from the main retry loop of
reclaim + compaction.
We can simplify this by instead skipping the initial reclaim attempt via
a new local variable compact_first, and handle the compact_prority as
necessary to match the original behavior. No functional change intended.
Suggested-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Reviewed-by: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com>
---
include/linux/gfp.h | 8 ++++-
mm/page_alloc.c | 100 +++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------------
2 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 53 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/linux/gfp.h b/include/linux/gfp.h
index aa45989f410d..6ecf6dda93e0 100644
--- a/include/linux/gfp.h
+++ b/include/linux/gfp.h
@@ -407,9 +407,15 @@ extern gfp_t gfp_allowed_mask;
/* Returns true if the gfp_mask allows use of ALLOC_NO_WATERMARK */
bool gfp_pfmemalloc_allowed(gfp_t gfp_mask);
+/* A helper for checking if gfp includes all the specified flags */
+static inline bool gfp_has_flags(gfp_t gfp, gfp_t flags)
+{
+ return (gfp & flags) == flags;
+}
+
static inline bool gfp_has_io_fs(gfp_t gfp)
{
- return (gfp & (__GFP_IO | __GFP_FS)) == (__GFP_IO | __GFP_FS);
+ return gfp_has_flags(gfp, __GFP_IO | __GFP_FS);
}
/*
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index b06b1cb01e0e..3b2579c5716f 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -4702,7 +4702,7 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
struct alloc_context *ac)
{
bool can_direct_reclaim = gfp_mask & __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM;
- bool can_compact = gfp_compaction_allowed(gfp_mask);
+ bool can_compact = can_direct_reclaim && gfp_compaction_allowed(gfp_mask);
bool nofail = gfp_mask & __GFP_NOFAIL;
const bool costly_order = order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER;
struct page *page = NULL;
@@ -4715,6 +4715,7 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
unsigned int cpuset_mems_cookie;
unsigned int zonelist_iter_cookie;
int reserve_flags;
+ bool compact_first = false;
if (unlikely(nofail)) {
/*
@@ -4738,6 +4739,19 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
cpuset_mems_cookie = read_mems_allowed_begin();
zonelist_iter_cookie = zonelist_iter_begin();
+ /*
+ * For costly allocations, try direct compaction first, as it's likely
+ * that we have enough base pages and don't need to reclaim. For non-
+ * movable high-order allocations, do that as well, as compaction will
+ * try prevent permanent fragmentation by migrating from blocks of the
+ * same migratetype.
+ */
+ if (can_compact && (costly_order || (order > 0 &&
+ ac->migratetype != MIGRATE_MOVABLE))) {
+ compact_first = true;
+ compact_priority = INIT_COMPACT_PRIORITY;
+ }
+
/*
* The fast path uses conservative alloc_flags to succeed only until
* kswapd needs to be woken up, and to avoid the cost of setting up
@@ -4780,53 +4794,6 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
if (page)
goto got_pg;
- /*
- * For costly allocations, try direct compaction first, as it's likely
- * that we have enough base pages and don't need to reclaim. For non-
- * movable high-order allocations, do that as well, as compaction will
- * try prevent permanent fragmentation by migrating from blocks of the
- * same migratetype.
- * Don't try this for allocations that are allowed to ignore
- * watermarks, as the ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS attempt didn't yet happen.
- */
- if (can_direct_reclaim && can_compact &&
- (costly_order ||
- (order > 0 && ac->migratetype != MIGRATE_MOVABLE))
- && !gfp_pfmemalloc_allowed(gfp_mask)) {
- page = __alloc_pages_direct_compact(gfp_mask, order,
- alloc_flags, ac,
- INIT_COMPACT_PRIORITY,
- &compact_result);
- if (page)
- goto got_pg;
-
- /*
- * Checks for costly allocations with __GFP_NORETRY, which
- * includes some THP page fault allocations
- */
- if (costly_order && (gfp_mask & __GFP_NORETRY)) {
- /*
- * THP page faults may attempt local node only first,
- * but are then allowed to only compact, not reclaim,
- * see alloc_pages_mpol().
- *
- * Compaction has failed above and we don't want such
- * THP allocations to put reclaim pressure on a single
- * node in a situation where other nodes might have
- * plenty of available memory.
- */
- if (gfp_mask & __GFP_THISNODE)
- goto nopage;
-
- /*
- * Proceed with single round of reclaim/compaction, but
- * since sync compaction could be very expensive, keep
- * using async compaction.
- */
- compact_priority = INIT_COMPACT_PRIORITY;
- }
- }
-
retry:
/*
* Deal with possible cpuset update races or zonelist updates to avoid
@@ -4870,10 +4837,12 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
goto nopage;
/* Try direct reclaim and then allocating */
- page = __alloc_pages_direct_reclaim(gfp_mask, order, alloc_flags, ac,
- &did_some_progress);
- if (page)
- goto got_pg;
+ if (!compact_first) {
+ page = __alloc_pages_direct_reclaim(gfp_mask, order, alloc_flags,
+ ac, &did_some_progress);
+ if (page)
+ goto got_pg;
+ }
/* Try direct compaction and then allocating */
page = __alloc_pages_direct_compact(gfp_mask, order, alloc_flags, ac,
@@ -4881,6 +4850,33 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
if (page)
goto got_pg;
+ if (compact_first) {
+ /*
+ * THP page faults may attempt local node only first, but are
+ * then allowed to only compact, not reclaim, see
+ * alloc_pages_mpol().
+ *
+ * Compaction has failed above and we don't want such THP
+ * allocations to put reclaim pressure on a single node in a
+ * situation where other nodes might have plenty of available
+ * memory.
+ */
+ if (gfp_has_flags(gfp_mask, __GFP_NORETRY | __GFP_THISNODE))
+ goto nopage;
+
+ /*
+ * For the initial compaction attempt we have lowered its
+ * priority. Restore it for further retries, if those are
+ * allowed. With __GFP_NORETRY there will be a single round of
+ * reclaim and compaction with the lowered priority.
+ */
+ if (!(gfp_mask & __GFP_NORETRY))
+ compact_priority = DEF_COMPACT_PRIORITY;
+
+ compact_first = false;
+ goto retry;
+ }
+
/* Do not loop if specifically requested */
if (gfp_mask & __GFP_NORETRY)
goto nopage;
--
2.52.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-01-06 11:53 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-01-06 11:52 [PATCH mm-unstable v3 0/3] tweaks for __alloc_pages_slowpath() Vlastimil Babka
2026-01-06 11:52 ` [PATCH mm-unstable v3 1/3] mm/page_alloc: ignore the exact initial compaction result Vlastimil Babka
2026-01-06 13:51 ` Michal Hocko
2026-01-06 11:52 ` Vlastimil Babka [this message]
2026-01-06 13:56 ` [PATCH mm-unstable v3 2/3] mm/page_alloc: refactor the initial compaction handling Michal Hocko
2026-01-06 11:52 ` [PATCH mm-unstable v3 3/3] mm/page_alloc: simplify __alloc_pages_slowpath() flow Vlastimil Babka
2026-01-06 14:00 ` Michal Hocko
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