linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 3/3] mm/vma: remove mmap() retry merge

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Message-ID: <71cb8335-ad53-409a-b947-d7ded8a3ef02@redhat.com>
Date: Fri, 9 May 2025 11:45:45 +0200
From: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>
To: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>,
 Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: "Liam R . Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
 Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>, Mike Rapoport <rppt@...nel.org>,
 Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>, Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>,
 Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>, Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@...e.de>,
 linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
 linux-mm@...ck.org, Alexander Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
 Christian Brauner <brauner@...nel.org>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>,
 Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 3/3] mm/vma: remove mmap() retry merge

On 07.05.25 13:03, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> We have now introduced a mechanism that obviates the need for a reattempted
> merge via the mmap_prepare() file hook, so eliminate this functionality
> altogether.
> 
> The retry merge logic has been the cause of a great deal of complexity in
> the past and required a great deal of careful manoeuvring of code to ensure
> its continued and correct functionality.
> 
> It has also recently been involved in an issue surrounding maple tree
> state, which again points to its problematic nature.
> 
> We make it much easier to reason about mmap() logic by eliminating this and
> simply writing a VMA once. This also opens the doors to future optimisation
> and improvement in the mmap() logic.
> 
> For any device or file system which encounters unwanted VMA fragmentation
> as a result of this change (that is, having not implemented .mmap_prepare
> hooks), the issue is easily resolvable by doing so.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>

Reviewed-by: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>

-- 
Cheers,

David / dhildenb