linux-kernel - [PATCH] docs: update THP documentation to clarify sysfs "never" setting

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Message-ID: <20250721155530.75944-1-lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2025 16:55:30 +0100
From: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>, Zi Yan <ziy@...dia.com>,
        Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@...ux.alibaba.com>,
        "Liam R . Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
        Nico Pache <npache@...hat.com>, Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@....com>,
        Dev Jain <dev.jain@....com>, Barry Song <baohua@...nel.org>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
        linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] docs: update THP documentation to clarify sysfs "never" setting

Rather confusingly, setting all Transparent Huge Page sysfs settings to
"never" does not in fact result in THP being globally disabled.

Rather, it results in khugepaged being disabled, but one can still obtain
THP pages using madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE).

This is something that has remained poorly documented for some time, and it
is likely the received wisdom of most users of THP that never does, in
fact, mean never.

It is therefore important to highlight, very clearly, that this is not the
ase.

Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst | 11 +++++++++--
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
index dff8d5985f0f..182519197ef7 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ sysfs
 Global THP controls
 -------------------
 
-Transparent Hugepage Support for anonymous memory can be entirely disabled
+Transparent Hugepage Support for anonymous memory can be disabled
 (mostly for debugging purposes) or only enabled inside MADV_HUGEPAGE
 regions (to avoid the risk of consuming more memory resources) or enabled
 system wide. This can be achieved per-supported-THP-size with one of::
@@ -119,6 +119,11 @@ system wide. This can be achieved per-supported-THP-size with one of::
 where <size> is the hugepage size being addressed, the available sizes
 for which vary by system.
 
+.. note:: Setting "never" in all sysfs THP controls does **not** disable
+          Transparent Huge Pages globally. This is because ``madvise(...,
+          MADV_COLLAPSE)`` ignores these settings and collapses ranges to
+          PMD-sized huge pages unconditionally.
+
 For example::
 
 	echo always >/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hugepages-2048kB/enabled
@@ -187,7 +192,9 @@ madvise
 	behaviour.
 
 never
-	should be self-explanatory.
+	should be self-explanatory. Note that ``madvise(...,
+	MADV_COLLAPSE)`` can still cause transparent huge pages to be
+	obtained even if this mode is specified everywhere.
 
 By default kernel tries to use huge, PMD-mappable zero page on read
 page fault to anonymous mapping. It's possible to disable huge zero
-- 
2.50.1