linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v4 06/10] mm/vma: clean up __vma_enter/exit

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Message-ID: <a71b7529-bf1b-477b-8e66-644f38b0c32d@suse.cz>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:25:51 +0100
From: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
To: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>,
 Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@...nel.org>,
 "Liam R . Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>, Mike Rapoport
 <rppt@...nel.org>, Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
 Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>, Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@...ux.dev>,
 Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-rt-devel@...ts.linux.dev,
 Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
 Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>, Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>,
 Waiman Long <longman@...hat.com>,
 Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
 Clark Williams <clrkwllms@...nel.org>, Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 06/10] mm/vma: clean up __vma_enter/exit_locked()

On 1/23/26 21:12, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> These functions are very confusing indeed. 'Entering' a lock could be
> interpreted as acquiring it, but this is not what these functions are
> interacting with.
> 
> Equally they don't indicate at all what kind of lock we are 'entering' or
> 'exiting'. Finally they are misleading as we invoke these functions when we
> already hold a write lock to detach a VMA.
> 
> These functions are explicitly simply 'entering' and 'exiting' a state in
> which we hold the EXCLUSIVE lock in order that we can either mark the VMA
> as being write-locked, or mark the VMA detached.
> 
> Rename the functions accordingly, and also update
> __vma_end_exclude_readers() to return detached state with a __must_check
> directive, as it is simply clumsy to pass an output pointer here to
> detached state and inconsistent vs. __vma_start_exclude_readers().
> 
> Finally, remove the unnecessary 'inline' directives.
> 
> No functional change intended.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>

Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>