linux-kernel - [PATCH v2] mempolicy: Clarify what zone reclaim means

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <20250731210738.1451854-1-joshua.hahnjy@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:07:37 -0700
From: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@...il.com>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	SeongJae Park <sj@...nel.org>,
	Ying Huang <ying.huang@...ux.alibaba.com>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>,
	Zi Yan <ziy@...dia.com>,
	Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org>,
	Matthew Brost <matthew.brost@...el.com>,
	Rakie Kim <rakie.kim@...com>,
	Byungchul Park <byungchul@...com>,
	Gregory Price <gourry@...rry.net>,
	Alistair Popple <apopple@...dia.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-mm@...ck.org,
	kernel-team@...a.com
Subject: [PATCH v2] mempolicy: Clarify what zone reclaim means

The zone_reclaim_mode API controls the reclaim behavior when a node runs out of
memory. Contrary to its user-facing name, it is internally referred to as
"node_reclaim_mode".

This can be confusing. But because we cannot change the name of the API since
it has been in place since at least 2.6, let's try to be more explicit about
what the behavior of this API is. 

Change the description to clarify what zone reclaim entails, and be explicit
about the RECLAIM_ZONE bit, whose purpose has led to some confusion in the
past already [1] [2].

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/1579005573-58923-1-git-send-email-alex.shi@linux.alibaba.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20200626003459.D8E015CA@viggo.jf.intel.com/

Signed-off-by: Joshua Hahn <joshua.hahnjy@...il.com>
---
 include/uapi/linux/mempolicy.h | 8 +++++++-
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/mempolicy.h b/include/uapi/linux/mempolicy.h
index 1f9bb10d1a47..6c9c9385ff89 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/mempolicy.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/mempolicy.h
@@ -66,10 +66,16 @@ enum {
 #define MPOL_F_MORON	(1 << 4) /* Migrate On protnone Reference On Node */
 
 /*
+ * Enabling zone reclaim means the page allocator will attempt to fulfill
+ * the allocation request on the current node by triggering reclaim and
+ * trying to shrink the current node.
+ * Fallback allocations on the next candidates in the zonelist are considered
+ * zone when reclaim fails to free up enough memory in the current node/zone.
+ *
  * These bit locations are exposed in the vm.zone_reclaim_mode sysctl
  * ABI.  New bits are OK, but existing bits can never change.
  */
-#define RECLAIM_ZONE	(1<<0)	/* Run shrink_inactive_list on the zone */
+#define RECLAIM_ZONE	(1<<0)	/* Enable zone reclaim */
 #define RECLAIM_WRITE	(1<<1)	/* Writeout pages during reclaim */
 #define RECLAIM_UNMAP	(1<<2)	/* Unmap pages during reclaim */
 

base-commit: 260f6f4fda93c8485c8037865c941b42b9cba5d2
-- 
2.47.3