[PATCH 0/3] dma-mapping: Improve atomic pool behaviour

[PATCH 0/3] dma-mapping: Improve atomic pool behaviour

[Robin Murphy]

Hi all,

These days we have somewhat of a matrix of mm zones that may or may not
exist and may or may not be empty, which the per-zone atomic pool logic
doesn't actually handle all that well. It's not all that difficult to
improve robustness and reduce redundancy, so that's what this series
aims for.

I initially wrote this just because I happened to be looking through the
boot log of one of my boards and had one of those out-of-the-blue
realisations of "hang on, why *is* it allocating pools for zones it
doesn't even have memory in?", but coincidentally, it seems that others
happened to notice related aspects around the same time[1][2]. This is
my attempt to sort it all out properly.

I guess this could go via either the dma-mapping or mm tree, whichever
maintainers prefer.

Thanks,
Robin.


[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260112065857.3137331-1-vladimir.kondratiev@mobileye.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-iommu/20260112104749.4132641-1-s-adivi@ti.com/

Robin Murphy (3):
  dma/pool: Improve pool lookup
  mm_zone: Generalise has_managed_dma()
  dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools

 include/linux/mmzone.h |  9 +++++----
 kernel/dma/pool.c      | 27 ++++++++++++++++++---------
 mm/page_alloc.c        |  8 ++------
 3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 1/3] dma/pool: Improve pool lookup

[Robin Murphy]

If CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32 is enabled, but we have not allocated the
corresponding atomic_pool_dma32, dma_guess_pool() may return the NULL
value of that and fail a GFP_DMA32 allocation without trying to fall
back to other pools which may exist. Furthermore, if no GFP_DMA pool
exists, it is preferable to try GFP_DMA32 rather than immediately fall
back to GFP_KERNEL with even less chance of success. Improve matters
by encoding an explicit order of pool preference for each flag.

Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
---
 kernel/dma/pool.c | 8 ++++----
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/dma/pool.c b/kernel/dma/pool.c
index 26392badc36b..2645cfb5718b 100644
--- a/kernel/dma/pool.c
+++ b/kernel/dma/pool.c
@@ -224,10 +224,10 @@ postcore_initcall(dma_atomic_pool_init);
 static inline struct gen_pool *dma_guess_pool(struct gen_pool *prev, gfp_t gfp)
 {
 	if (prev == NULL) {
-		if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32) && (gfp & GFP_DMA32))
-			return atomic_pool_dma32;
-		if (atomic_pool_dma && (gfp & GFP_DMA))
-			return atomic_pool_dma;
+		if (gfp & GFP_DMA)
+			return atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
+		if (gfp & GFP_DMA32)
+			return atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
 		return atomic_pool_kernel;
 	}
 	if (prev == atomic_pool_kernel)
-- 
2.34.1

[PATCH 2/3] mm_zone: Generalise has_managed_dma()

[Robin Murphy]

It would be useful to be able to check for potential DMA pages beyond
just ZONE_DMA - generalise the existing has_managed_dma() function to
allow checking other zones too.

Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
---
 include/linux/mmzone.h | 9 +++++----
 mm/page_alloc.c        | 8 ++------
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index 75ef7c9f9307..fc5d6c88d2f0 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -1648,14 +1648,15 @@ static inline int is_highmem(const struct zone *zone)
 	return is_highmem_idx(zone_idx(zone));
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
-bool has_managed_dma(void);
-#else
+bool has_managed_zone(enum zone_type zone);
 static inline bool has_managed_dma(void)
 {
+#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
+	return has_managed_zone(ZONE_DMA);
+#else
 	return false;
-}
 #endif
+}
 
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_NUMA
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 822e05f1a964..36ccc85c5073 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -7418,20 +7418,16 @@ bool put_page_back_buddy(struct page *page)
 }
 #endif
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA
-bool has_managed_dma(void)
+bool has_managed_zone(enum zone_type zone)
 {
 	struct pglist_data *pgdat;
 
 	for_each_online_pgdat(pgdat) {
-		struct zone *zone = &pgdat->node_zones[ZONE_DMA];
-
-		if (managed_zone(zone))
+		if (managed_zone(&pgdat->node_zones[zone]))
 			return true;
 	}
 	return false;
 }
-#endif /* CONFIG_ZONE_DMA */
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_UNACCEPTED_MEMORY
 
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH 2/3] mm_zone: Generalise has_managed_dma()

[David Hildenbrand (Red Hat)]

On 1/12/26 16:46, Robin Murphy wrote:
> It would be useful to be able to check for potential DMA pages beyond
> just ZONE_DMA - generalise the existing has_managed_dma() function to
> allow checking other zones too.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
> ---

Acked-by: David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) <david@kernel.org>

-- 
Cheers

David

[PATCH 3/3] dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools

[Robin Murphy]

On smaller systems, e.g. embedded arm64, it is common for all memory
to end up in ZONE_DMA32 or even ZONE_DMA. In such cases it is redundant
to allocate a nominal pool for an empty higher zone that just ends up
coming from a lower zone that should already have its own pool anyway.
We already have logic to skip allocating a ZONE_DMA pool when that is
empty, so generalise that to save memory in the case of other zones too.

Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
---
 kernel/dma/pool.c | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/dma/pool.c b/kernel/dma/pool.c
index 2645cfb5718b..c5da29ad010c 100644
--- a/kernel/dma/pool.c
+++ b/kernel/dma/pool.c
@@ -184,6 +184,12 @@ static __init struct gen_pool *__dma_atomic_pool_init(size_t pool_size,
 	return pool;
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32
+#define has_managed_dma32 has_managed_zone(ZONE_DMA32)
+#else
+#define has_managed_dma32 false
+#endif
+
 static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
@@ -199,17 +205,20 @@ static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
 	}
 	INIT_WORK(&atomic_pool_work, atomic_pool_work_fn);
 
-	atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
+	/* All memory might be in the DMA zone(s) to begin with */
+	if (has_managed_zone(ZONE_NORMAL)) {
+		atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
 						    GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
-		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
+			ret = -ENOMEM;
+	}
 	if (has_managed_dma()) {
 		atomic_pool_dma = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
 						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA);
 		if (!atomic_pool_dma)
 			ret = -ENOMEM;
 	}
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32)) {
+	if (has_managed_dma32) {
 		atomic_pool_dma32 = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
 						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA32);
 		if (!atomic_pool_dma32)
@@ -228,7 +237,7 @@ static inline struct gen_pool *dma_guess_pool(struct gen_pool *prev, gfp_t gfp)
 			return atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
 		if (gfp & GFP_DMA32)
 			return atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
-		return atomic_pool_kernel;
+		return atomic_pool_kernel ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma;
 	}
 	if (prev == atomic_pool_kernel)
 		return atomic_pool_dma32 ? atomic_pool_dma32 : atomic_pool_dma;
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [PATCH 3/3] dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools

[Baoquan He]

On 01/12/26 at 03:46pm, Robin Murphy wrote:
> On smaller systems, e.g. embedded arm64, it is common for all memory
> to end up in ZONE_DMA32 or even ZONE_DMA. In such cases it is redundant

This is true and the whole series looks great to me. Do we need adjust
warn_alloc() to handle empty DMA32 zone too like empty DMA zone case?

> to allocate a nominal pool for an empty higher zone that just ends up
> coming from a lower zone that should already have its own pool anyway.
> We already have logic to skip allocating a ZONE_DMA pool when that is
> empty, so generalise that to save memory in the case of other zones too.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
> ---
>  kernel/dma/pool.c | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/kernel/dma/pool.c b/kernel/dma/pool.c
> index 2645cfb5718b..c5da29ad010c 100644
> --- a/kernel/dma/pool.c
> +++ b/kernel/dma/pool.c
> @@ -184,6 +184,12 @@ static __init struct gen_pool *__dma_atomic_pool_init(size_t pool_size,
>  	return pool;
>  }
>  
> +#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32
> +#define has_managed_dma32 has_managed_zone(ZONE_DMA32)
> +#else
> +#define has_managed_dma32 false
> +#endif
> +
>  static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
>  {
>  	int ret = 0;
> @@ -199,17 +205,20 @@ static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
>  	}
>  	INIT_WORK(&atomic_pool_work, atomic_pool_work_fn);
>  
> -	atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
> +	/* All memory might be in the DMA zone(s) to begin with */
> +	if (has_managed_zone(ZONE_NORMAL)) {
> +		atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>  						    GFP_KERNEL);
> -	if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
> -		ret = -ENOMEM;
> +		if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
> +			ret = -ENOMEM;
> +	}
>  	if (has_managed_dma()) {
>  		atomic_pool_dma = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>  						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA);
>  		if (!atomic_pool_dma)
>  			ret = -ENOMEM;
>  	}
> -	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32)) {
> +	if (has_managed_dma32) {
>  		atomic_pool_dma32 = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>  						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA32);
>  		if (!atomic_pool_dma32)
> @@ -228,7 +237,7 @@ static inline struct gen_pool *dma_guess_pool(struct gen_pool *prev, gfp_t gfp)
>  			return atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
>  		if (gfp & GFP_DMA32)
>  			return atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
> -		return atomic_pool_kernel;
> +		return atomic_pool_kernel ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma;
>  	}
>  	if (prev == atomic_pool_kernel)
>  		return atomic_pool_dma32 ? atomic_pool_dma32 : atomic_pool_dma;
> -- 
> 2.34.1
> 
> 

Re: [PATCH 3/3] dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools

[Robin Murphy]

On 2026-01-13 10:16 am, Baoquan He wrote:
> On 01/12/26 at 03:46pm, Robin Murphy wrote:
>> On smaller systems, e.g. embedded arm64, it is common for all memory
>> to end up in ZONE_DMA32 or even ZONE_DMA. In such cases it is redundant
> 
> This is true and the whole series looks great to me. Do we need adjust
> warn_alloc() to handle empty DMA32 zone too like empty DMA zone case?

Hmm, I'd be inclined to think that if nobody's complaining already then 
we can probably just leave it as-is. A GFP_DMA32 allocation won't OOM 
unless *both* ZONE_DMA32 and ZONE_DMA are empty, right? At that point 
I'd imagine it's a bit more significant if someone who wants DMA32 
memory can't have any - don't we have a mechanism for reserving some 
"low" memory for kdump for pretty much this exact reason?

A special case for when ZONE_DMA is tiny such that GFP_DMA can be 
expected to fail often seems fair, but in general I'd expect that if 
GFP_DMA32 starts failing then it's more a sign of a genuine mismatch 
between the kernel's expectations and the system configuration.

Thanks,
Robin.

>> to allocate a nominal pool for an empty higher zone that just ends up
>> coming from a lower zone that should already have its own pool anyway.
>> We already have logic to skip allocating a ZONE_DMA pool when that is
>> empty, so generalise that to save memory in the case of other zones too.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>
>> ---
>>   kernel/dma/pool.c | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
>>   1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/kernel/dma/pool.c b/kernel/dma/pool.c
>> index 2645cfb5718b..c5da29ad010c 100644
>> --- a/kernel/dma/pool.c
>> +++ b/kernel/dma/pool.c
>> @@ -184,6 +184,12 @@ static __init struct gen_pool *__dma_atomic_pool_init(size_t pool_size,
>>   	return pool;
>>   }
>>   
>> +#ifdef CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32
>> +#define has_managed_dma32 has_managed_zone(ZONE_DMA32)
>> +#else
>> +#define has_managed_dma32 false
>> +#endif
>> +
>>   static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
>>   {
>>   	int ret = 0;
>> @@ -199,17 +205,20 @@ static int __init dma_atomic_pool_init(void)
>>   	}
>>   	INIT_WORK(&atomic_pool_work, atomic_pool_work_fn);
>>   
>> -	atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>> +	/* All memory might be in the DMA zone(s) to begin with */
>> +	if (has_managed_zone(ZONE_NORMAL)) {
>> +		atomic_pool_kernel = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>>   						    GFP_KERNEL);
>> -	if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
>> -		ret = -ENOMEM;
>> +		if (!atomic_pool_kernel)
>> +			ret = -ENOMEM;
>> +	}
>>   	if (has_managed_dma()) {
>>   		atomic_pool_dma = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>>   						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA);
>>   		if (!atomic_pool_dma)
>>   			ret = -ENOMEM;
>>   	}
>> -	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ZONE_DMA32)) {
>> +	if (has_managed_dma32) {
>>   		atomic_pool_dma32 = __dma_atomic_pool_init(atomic_pool_size,
>>   						GFP_KERNEL | GFP_DMA32);
>>   		if (!atomic_pool_dma32)
>> @@ -228,7 +237,7 @@ static inline struct gen_pool *dma_guess_pool(struct gen_pool *prev, gfp_t gfp)
>>   			return atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
>>   		if (gfp & GFP_DMA32)
>>   			return atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma ?: atomic_pool_kernel;
>> -		return atomic_pool_kernel;
>> +		return atomic_pool_kernel ?: atomic_pool_dma32 ?: atomic_pool_dma;
>>   	}
>>   	if (prev == atomic_pool_kernel)
>>   		return atomic_pool_dma32 ? atomic_pool_dma32 : atomic_pool_dma;
>> -- 
>> 2.34.1
>>
>>
> 

Re: [PATCH 3/3] dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools

[Baoquan He]

On 01/13/26 at 04:14pm, Robin Murphy wrote:
> On 2026-01-13 10:16 am, Baoquan He wrote:
> > On 01/12/26 at 03:46pm, Robin Murphy wrote:
> > > On smaller systems, e.g. embedded arm64, it is common for all memory
> > > to end up in ZONE_DMA32 or even ZONE_DMA. In such cases it is redundant
> > 
> > This is true and the whole series looks great to me. Do we need adjust
> > warn_alloc() to handle empty DMA32 zone too like empty DMA zone case?
> 
> Hmm, I'd be inclined to think that if nobody's complaining already then we
> can probably just leave it as-is. A GFP_DMA32 allocation won't OOM unless
> *both* ZONE_DMA32 and ZONE_DMA are empty, right? At that point I'd imagine
> it's a bit more significant if someone who wants DMA32 memory can't have any
> - don't we have a mechanism for reserving some "low" memory for kdump for
> pretty much this exact reason?
> 
> A special case for when ZONE_DMA is tiny such that GFP_DMA can be expected
> to fail often seems fair, but in general I'd expect that if GFP_DMA32 starts
> failing then it's more a sign of a genuine mismatch between the kernel's
> expectations and the system configuration.

Makes sense to me. I remember someone plans to take off both DMA and DMA32 zone
in linux kernel, but that might not happen soon.

Re: [PATCH 0/3] dma-mapping: Improve atomic pool behaviour

[Vladimir Kondratiev]

> Hi all,
> 
> These days we have somewhat of a matrix of mm zones that may or may not
> exist and may or may not be empty, which the per-zone atomic pool logic
> doesn't actually handle all that well. It's not all that difficult to
> improve robustness and reduce redundancy, so that's what this series
> aims for.
> 
> I initially wrote this just because I happened to be looking through the
> boot log of one of my boards and had one of those out-of-the-blue
> realisations of "hang on, why *is* it allocating pools for zones it
> doesn't even have memory in?", but coincidentally, it seems that others
> happened to notice related aspects around the same time[1][2]. This is
> my attempt to sort it all out properly.
> 
> I guess this could go via either the dma-mapping or mm tree, whichever
> maintainers prefer.
> 
> Thanks,
> Robin.
> 
> 
> [1] Suspicious Link - Removed
> [2] Suspicious Link - Removed
> 
> Robin Murphy (3):
>   dma/pool: Improve pool lookup
>   mm_zone: Generalise has_managed_dma()
>   dma/pool: Avoid allocating redundant pools
> 
>  include/linux/mmzone.h |  9 +++++----
>  kernel/dma/pool.c      | 27 ++++++++++++++++++---------
>  mm/page_alloc.c        |  8 ++------
>  3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)
> 
> --
> 2.34.1

Tested-by: Vladimir Kondratiev <vladimir.kondratiev@mobileye.com>

Tested on platform: upcoming Mobileye eyeq7h - risc-v platform with memory
mapped to 32Gbytes so DMA32 zone is empty

Re: [PATCH 0/3] dma-mapping: Improve atomic pool behaviour

[Marek Szyprowski]

On 12.01.2026 16:46, Robin Murphy wrote:
> These days we have somewhat of a matrix of mm zones that may or may not
> exist and may or may not be empty, which the per-zone atomic pool logic
> doesn't actually handle all that well. It's not all that difficult to
> improve robustness and reduce redundancy, so that's what this series
> aims for.
>
> I initially wrote this just because I happened to be looking through the
> boot log of one of my boards and had one of those out-of-the-blue
> realisations of "hang on, why *is* it allocating pools for zones it
> doesn't even have memory in?", but coincidentally, it seems that others
> happened to notice related aspects around the same time[1][2]. This is
> my attempt to sort it all out properly.
>
> I guess this could go via either the dma-mapping or mm tree, whichever
> maintainers prefer.

I will take this patchset to dma-mapping-fixes branch, thanks!

Best regards
-- 
Marek Szyprowski, PhD
Samsung R&D Institute Poland

Re: [PATCH 0/3] dma-mapping: Improve atomic pool behaviour

[Baoquan He]

On 01/12/26 at 03:46pm, Robin Murphy wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> These days we have somewhat of a matrix of mm zones that may or may not
> exist and may or may not be empty, which the per-zone atomic pool logic
> doesn't actually handle all that well. It's not all that difficult to
> improve robustness and reduce redundancy, so that's what this series
> aims for.
> 
> I initially wrote this just because I happened to be looking through the
> boot log of one of my boards and had one of those out-of-the-blue
> realisations of "hang on, why *is* it allocating pools for zones it
> doesn't even have memory in?", but coincidentally, it seems that others
> happened to notice related aspects around the same time[1][2]. This is
> my attempt to sort it all out properly.

Reviewed-by: Baoquan He <bhe@redhat.com>