Message-ID: <e106a4d5-32f7-4314-b8c1-19ebc6da6d7a@suse.cz>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:54:18 +0100
From: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
To: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@...cle.com>
Cc: Petr Tesarik <ptesarik@...e.com>, Christoph Lameter <cl@...two.org>,
 David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>,
 Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@...ux.dev>, Hao Li <hao.li@...ux.dev>,
 Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
 Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>,
 "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
 Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
 Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
 Alexei Starovoitov <ast@...nel.org>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-rt-devel@...ts.linux.dev,
 bpf@...r.kernel.org, kasan-dev@...glegroups.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 09/21] slab: add optimized sheaf refill from partial
 list

On 1/19/26 07:41, Harry Yoo wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 03:40:29PM +0100, Vlastimil Babka wrote:
>> At this point we have sheaves enabled for all caches, but their refill
>> is done via __kmem_cache_alloc_bulk() which relies on cpu (partial)
>> slabs - now a redundant caching layer that we are about to remove.
>> 
>> The refill will thus be done from slabs on the node partial list.
>> Introduce new functions that can do that in an optimized way as it's
>> easier than modifying the __kmem_cache_alloc_bulk() call chain.
>> 
>> Extend struct partial_context so it can return a list of slabs from the
>> partial list with the sum of free objects in them within the requested
>> min and max.
>> 
>> Introduce get_partial_node_bulk() that removes the slabs from freelist
>> and returns them in the list.
>> 
>> Introduce get_freelist_nofreeze() which grabs the freelist without
>> freezing the slab.
>> 
>> Introduce alloc_from_new_slab() which can allocate multiple objects from
>> a newly allocated slab where we don't need to synchronize with freeing.
>> In some aspects it's similar to alloc_single_from_new_slab() but assumes
>> the cache is a non-debug one so it can avoid some actions.
>> 
>> Introduce __refill_objects() that uses the functions above to fill an
>> array of objects. It has to handle the possibility that the slabs will
>> contain more objects that were requested, due to concurrent freeing of
>> objects to those slabs. When no more slabs on partial lists are
>> available, it will allocate new slabs. It is intended to be only used
>> in context where spinning is allowed, so add a WARN_ON_ONCE check there.
>> 
>> Finally, switch refill_sheaf() to use __refill_objects(). Sheaves are
>> only refilled from contexts that allow spinning, or even blocking.
>> 
>> Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
>> ---
>>  mm/slub.c | 284 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
>>  1 file changed, 264 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
>> 
>> diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
>> index 9bea8a65e510..dce80463f92c 100644
>> --- a/mm/slub.c
>> +++ b/mm/slub.c
>> @@ -3522,6 +3525,63 @@ static inline void put_cpu_partial(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab,
>>  #endif
>>  static inline bool pfmemalloc_match(struct slab *slab, gfp_t gfpflags);
>>  
>> +static bool get_partial_node_bulk(struct kmem_cache *s,
>> +				  struct kmem_cache_node *n,
>> +				  struct partial_context *pc)
>> +{
>> +	struct slab *slab, *slab2;
>> +	unsigned int total_free = 0;
>> +	unsigned long flags;
>> +
>> +	/* Racy check to avoid taking the lock unnecessarily. */
>> +	if (!n || data_race(!n->nr_partial))
>> +		return false;
>> +
>> +	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&pc->slabs);
>> +
>> +	spin_lock_irqsave(&n->list_lock, flags);
>> +
>> +	list_for_each_entry_safe(slab, slab2, &n->partial, slab_list) {
>> +		struct freelist_counters flc;
>> +		unsigned int slab_free;
>> +
>> +		if (!pfmemalloc_match(slab, pc->flags))
>> +			continue;
>> +		/*
>> +		 * determine the number of free objects in the slab racily
>> +		 *
>> +		 * due to atomic updates done by a racing free we should not
>> +		 * read an inconsistent value here, but do a sanity check anyway
>> +		 *
>> +		 * slab_free is a lower bound due to subsequent concurrent
>> +		 * freeing, the caller might get more objects than requested and
>> +		 * must deal with it
>> +		 */
>> +		flc.counters = data_race(READ_ONCE(slab->counters));
>> +		slab_free = flc.objects - flc.inuse;
>> +
>> +		if (unlikely(slab_free > oo_objects(s->oo)))
>> +			continue;
> 
> When is this condition supposed to be true?
> 
> I guess it's when __update_freelist_slow() doesn't update
> slab->counters atomically?

Yeah. Probably could be solvable with WRITE_ONCE() there, as this is only
about hypothetical read/write tearing, not seeing stale values. Or not? Just
wanted to be careful.

>> +
>> +		/* we have already min and this would get us over the max */
>> +		if (total_free >= pc->min_objects
>> +		    && total_free + slab_free > pc->max_objects)
>> +			break;
>> +
>> +		remove_partial(n, slab);
>> +
>> +		list_add(&slab->slab_list, &pc->slabs);
>> +
>> +		total_free += slab_free;
>> +		if (total_free >= pc->max_objects)
>> +			break;
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&n->list_lock, flags);
>> +	return total_free > 0;
>> +}
>> +
>>  /*
>>   * Try to allocate a partial slab from a specific node.
>>   */
>> +static unsigned int alloc_from_new_slab(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab,
>> +		void **p, unsigned int count, bool allow_spin)
>> +{
>> +	unsigned int allocated = 0;
>> +	struct kmem_cache_node *n;
>> +	unsigned long flags;
>> +	void *object;
>> +
>> +	if (!allow_spin && (slab->objects - slab->inuse) > count) {
>> +
>> +		n = get_node(s, slab_nid(slab));
>> +
>> +		if (!spin_trylock_irqsave(&n->list_lock, flags)) {
>> +			/* Unlucky, discard newly allocated slab */
>> +			defer_deactivate_slab(slab, NULL);
>> +			return 0;
>> +		}
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	object = slab->freelist;
>> +	while (object && allocated < count) {
>> +		p[allocated] = object;
>> +		object = get_freepointer(s, object);
>> +		maybe_wipe_obj_freeptr(s, p[allocated]);
>> +
>> +		slab->inuse++;
>> +		allocated++;
>> +	}
>> +	slab->freelist = object;
>> +
>> +	if (slab->freelist) {
>> +
>> +		if (allow_spin) {
>> +			n = get_node(s, slab_nid(slab));
>> +			spin_lock_irqsave(&n->list_lock, flags);
>> +		}
>> +		add_partial(n, slab, DEACTIVATE_TO_HEAD);
>> +		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&n->list_lock, flags);
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	inc_slabs_node(s, slab_nid(slab), slab->objects);
> 
> Maybe add a comment explaining why inc_slabs_node() doesn't need to be
> called under n->list_lock?

Hm, we might not even be holding it. The old code also did the inc with no
comment. If anything could use one, it would be in
alloc_single_from_new_slab()? But that's outside the scope here.

>> +	return allocated;
>> +}
>> +
>>  /*
>>   * Slow path. The lockless freelist is empty or we need to perform
>>   * debugging duties.

>> +new_slab:
>> +
>> +	slab = new_slab(s, pc.flags, node);
>> +	if (!slab)
>> +		goto out;
>> +
>> +	stat(s, ALLOC_SLAB);
>> +
>> +	/*
>> +	 * TODO: possible optimization - if we know we will consume the whole
>> +	 * slab we might skip creating the freelist?
>> +	 */
>> +	refilled += alloc_from_new_slab(s, slab, p + refilled, max - refilled,
>> +					/* allow_spin = */ true);
>> +
>> +	if (refilled < min)
>> +		goto new_slab;
> 
> It should jump to out: label when alloc_from_new_slab() returns zero
> (trylock failed).
> 
> ...Oh wait, no. I was confused.
> 
> Why does alloc_from_new_slab() handle !allow_spin case when it cannot be
> called if allow_spin is false?

The next patch will use it so it seemed easier to add it already. I'll note
in the commit log.

>> +out:
>> +
>> +	return refilled;
>> +}
> 

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