* [PATCH V2 0/2] Small improvements to reserve_mem, take 2
@ 2026-03-04 20:14 Guilherme G. Piccoli
2026-03-04 20:14 ` [PATCH V2 1/2] mm/memblock: Print out errors on reserve_mem parser Guilherme G. Piccoli
2026-03-04 20:14 ` [PATCH V2 2/2] mm/memblock: Add reserve_mem debugfs info Guilherme G. Piccoli
0 siblings, 2 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Guilherme G. Piccoli @ 2026-03-04 20:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-mm, rppt
Cc: linux-kernel, kernel-dev, kernel, gpiccoli, Andrew Morton,
Steven Rostedt
Hi folks, this is the 2nd version of the patchset, V1 is
here: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260217195816.861684-1-gpiccoli@igalia.com/
So, quick summary: we are adding
(a) Error messages if "reserve_mem=" fails;
(b) A debugfs file in case "reserve_mem=" succeeds, showing name and
size of the allocation.
Use case of (a) is kinda obvious - we want to know if there are failures.
Use case for (b) are users or tools like kdumpst[0] that might want to
check if their reserve_mem allocation(s) succeeded in order to load
ramoops with proper parameters, using the reserved areas.
Thanks a lot Mike for the great review so far! Questions or comments
are welcome,
Guilherme G. Piccoli (2):
mm/memblock: Print out errors on reserve_mem parser
mm/memblock: Add reserve_mem debugfs info
mm/memblock.c | 65 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 54 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
[0] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/kdumpst
--
2.50.1
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* [PATCH V2 1/2] mm/memblock: Print out errors on reserve_mem parser
2026-03-04 20:14 [PATCH V2 0/2] Small improvements to reserve_mem, take 2 Guilherme G. Piccoli
@ 2026-03-04 20:14 ` Guilherme G. Piccoli
2026-03-04 20:14 ` [PATCH V2 2/2] mm/memblock: Add reserve_mem debugfs info Guilherme G. Piccoli
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Guilherme G. Piccoli @ 2026-03-04 20:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-mm, rppt
Cc: linux-kernel, kernel-dev, kernel, gpiccoli, Andrew Morton,
Steven Rostedt
The parsing of kernel parameter "reserve_mem=" is subject to
multiple failures, like duplicate naming, malformed expression
or even lack of available memory. Right now, all of these fail
silently. Let's add some messages so the kernel log can provide
useful information in case of failures.
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Signed-off-by: Guilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@igalia.com>
---
V2: no changes.
mm/memblock.c | 28 +++++++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/memblock.c b/mm/memblock.c
index b3ddfdec7a80..2d2646f7a120 100644
--- a/mm/memblock.c
+++ b/mm/memblock.c
@@ -2642,23 +2642,25 @@ static int __init reserve_mem(char *p)
int len;
if (!p)
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
/* Check if there's room for more reserved memory */
- if (reserved_mem_count >= RESERVE_MEM_MAX_ENTRIES)
+ if (reserved_mem_count >= RESERVE_MEM_MAX_ENTRIES) {
+ pr_err("reserve_mem: no more room for reserved memory\n");
return -EBUSY;
+ }
oldp = p;
size = memparse(p, &p);
if (!size || p == oldp)
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
if (*p != ':')
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
align = memparse(p+1, &p);
if (*p != ':')
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
/*
* memblock_phys_alloc() doesn't like a zero size align,
@@ -2672,7 +2674,7 @@ static int __init reserve_mem(char *p)
/* name needs to have length but not too big */
if (!len || len >= RESERVE_MEM_NAME_SIZE)
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
/* Make sure that name has text */
for (p = name; *p; p++) {
@@ -2680,11 +2682,13 @@ static int __init reserve_mem(char *p)
break;
}
if (!*p)
- return -EINVAL;
+ goto err_param;
/* Make sure the name is not already used */
- if (reserve_mem_find_by_name(name, &start, &tmp))
+ if (reserve_mem_find_by_name(name, &start, &tmp)) {
+ pr_err("reserve_mem: name \"%s\" was already used\n", name);
return -EBUSY;
+ }
/* Pick previous allocations up from KHO if available */
if (reserve_mem_kho_revive(name, size, align))
@@ -2692,12 +2696,18 @@ static int __init reserve_mem(char *p)
/* TODO: Allocation must be outside of scratch region */
start = memblock_phys_alloc(size, align);
- if (!start)
+ if (!start) {
+ pr_err("reserve_mem: memblock allocation failed\n");
return -ENOMEM;
+ }
reserved_mem_add(start, size, name);
return 1;
+err_param:
+ pr_err("reserve_mem: empty or malformed parameter\n");
+ return -EINVAL;
+
}
__setup("reserve_mem=", reserve_mem);
--
2.50.1
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread
* [PATCH V2 2/2] mm/memblock: Add reserve_mem debugfs info
2026-03-04 20:14 [PATCH V2 0/2] Small improvements to reserve_mem, take 2 Guilherme G. Piccoli
2026-03-04 20:14 ` [PATCH V2 1/2] mm/memblock: Print out errors on reserve_mem parser Guilherme G. Piccoli
@ 2026-03-04 20:14 ` Guilherme G. Piccoli
1 sibling, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Guilherme G. Piccoli @ 2026-03-04 20:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: linux-mm, rppt
Cc: linux-kernel, kernel-dev, kernel, gpiccoli, Andrew Morton,
Steven Rostedt
When using the "reserve_mem" parameter, users aim at having an
area that (hopefully) persists across boots, so pstore infrastructure
(like ramoops module) can make use of that to save oops/ftrace logs,
for example.
There is no easy way to determine if this kernel parameter is properly
set though; the kernel doesn't show information about this memory in
memblock debugfs, neither in /proc/iomem nor dmesg. This is a relevant
information for tools like kdumpst[0], to determine if it's reliable
to use the reserved area as ramoops persistent storage; checking only
/proc/cmdline is not sufficient as it doesn't tell if the reservation
effectively succeeded or not.
Add here a new file under memblock debugfs showing properly set memory
reservations, with name and size as passed to "reserve_mem". Notice that
if no "reserve_mem=" is passed on command-line or if the reservation
attempts fail, the file is not created.
[0] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/kdumpst
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Signed-off-by: Guilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@igalia.com>
---
Thanks a lot for the suggestions Mike! I'm not sure if you would
prefer a Co-Developed-by or Suggested-by instead of CC, you helped
a lot improving the code. Lemme know and either I can re-submit
(with potential other changes) or even, you can change while merging.
V2: (all suggestions by Mike Rapoport)
- Commit message (showing use case);
- Drop ifdef on include "string_helpers.h";
- Don't show the address of reserve_mem, only name and size;
- Fixed flag names inside ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK ifdef;
- Make use of its own show_attribute instead of refactoring
the memblock one;
- Use sizeof() instead of magical numbers for the size;
- Don't show memblock directory if no reserve_mem succeeded
and ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK isn't defined (keeping current behavior).
mm/memblock.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/memblock.c b/mm/memblock.c
index 2d2646f7a120..d816796ab919 100644
--- a/mm/memblock.c
+++ b/mm/memblock.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
#include <linux/seq_file.h>
#include <linux/memblock.h>
#include <linux/mutex.h>
+#include <linux/string_helpers.h>
#ifdef CONFIG_KEXEC_HANDOVER
#include <linux/libfdt.h>
@@ -2711,7 +2712,8 @@ static int __init reserve_mem(char *p)
}
__setup("reserve_mem=", reserve_mem);
-#if defined(CONFIG_DEBUG_FS) && defined(CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK)
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_FS
+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK
static const char * const flagname[] = {
[ilog2(MEMBLOCK_HOTPLUG)] = "HOTPLUG",
[ilog2(MEMBLOCK_MIRROR)] = "MIRROR",
@@ -2758,10 +2760,40 @@ static int memblock_debug_show(struct seq_file *m, void *private)
}
DEFINE_SHOW_ATTRIBUTE(memblock_debug);
+#endif /* CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK */
+
+static int memblock_reserve_mem_show(struct seq_file *m, void *private)
+{
+ struct reserve_mem_table *map;
+ char txtsz[16];
+
+ for (int i = 0; i < reserved_mem_count; i++) {
+ map = &reserved_mem_table[i];
+ if (!map->size)
+ continue;
+
+ memset(txtsz, 0, sizeof(txtsz));
+ string_get_size(map->size, 1, STRING_UNITS_2, txtsz, sizeof(txtsz));
+ seq_printf(m, "%s\t\t(%s)\n", map->name, txtsz);
+ }
+
+ return 0;
+}
+DEFINE_SHOW_ATTRIBUTE(memblock_reserve_mem);
+
static int __init memblock_init_debugfs(void)
{
- struct dentry *root = debugfs_create_dir("memblock", NULL);
+ struct dentry *root;
+ if (!(IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK) || reserved_mem_count))
+ return 0;
+
+ root = debugfs_create_dir("memblock", NULL);
+
+ if (reserved_mem_count)
+ debugfs_create_file("reserve_mem_param", 0444, root, NULL,
+ &memblock_reserve_mem_fops);
+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK
debugfs_create_file("memory", 0444, root,
&memblock.memory, &memblock_debug_fops);
debugfs_create_file("reserved", 0444, root,
@@ -2771,6 +2803,7 @@ static int __init memblock_init_debugfs(void)
&memblock_debug_fops);
#endif
+#endif /* CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK */
return 0;
}
__initcall(memblock_init_debugfs);
--
2.50.1
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2026-03-04 20:14 [PATCH V2 0/2] Small improvements to reserve_mem, take 2 Guilherme G. Piccoli
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