[PATCH 2/2] mm: drop PF_MEMALLOC_NORECLAIM

Michal Hocko
2024-08-26T08:54:03Z

From: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>

There is no existing user of the flag and the flag is dangerous because
a nested allocation context can use GFP_NOFAIL which could cause
unexpected failure. Such a code would be hard to maintain because it
could be deeper in the call chain.

PF_MEMALLOC_NORECLAIM has been added even when it was pointed out [1]
that such a allocation contex is inherently unsafe if the context
doesn't fully control all allocations called from this context.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/ZcM0xtlKbAOFjv5n@tiehlicka/

Signed-off-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
---
include/linux/sched.h | 1 -
include/linux/sched/mm.h | 7 ++-----
2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/sched.h b/include/linux/sched.h
index f8d150343d42..72dad3a6317a 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched.h
@@ -1657,7 +1657,6 @@ extern struct pid *cad_pid;
* I am cleaning dirty pages from some other bdi. */
#define PF_KTHREAD 0x00200000 /* I am a kernel thread */
#define PF_RANDOMIZE 0x00400000 /* Randomize virtual address space */
-#define PF_MEMALLOC_NORECLAIM 0x00800000 /* All allocation requests will clear __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM */
#define PF_MEMALLOC_NOWARN 0x01000000 /* All allocation requests will inherit __GFP_NOWARN */
#define PF__HOLE__02000000 0x02000000
#define PF_NO_SETAFFINITY 0x04000000 /* Userland is not allowed to meddle with cpus_mask */
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/mm.h b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
index 91546493c43d..c49f2b24acb9 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/mm.h
@@ -260,16 +260,13 @@ static inline gfp_t current_gfp_context(gfp_t flags)

if (unlikely(pflags & (PF_MEMALLOC_NOIO |
PF_MEMALLOC_NOFS |
- PF_MEMALLOC_NORECLAIM |
PF_MEMALLOC_NOWARN |
PF_MEMALLOC_PIN))) {
/*
* Stronger flags before weaker flags:
- * NORECLAIM implies NOIO, which in turn implies NOFS
+ * NOIO implies NOFS
*/
- if (pflags & PF_MEMALLOC_NORECLAIM)
- flags &= ~__GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM;
- else if (pflags & PF_MEMALLOC_NOIO)
+ if (pflags & PF_MEMALLOC_NOIO)
flags &= ~(__GFP_IO | __GFP_FS);
else if (pflags & PF_MEMALLOC_NOFS)
flags &= ~__GFP_FS;
--
2.46.0