linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v5 1/4] mm: Add address apis for ptdescs

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

Message-ID: <aYz6gUzhQixi3LFL@casper.infradead.org>
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:54:09 +0000
From: Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>
To: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...el.com>
Cc: "Vishal Moola (Oracle)" <vishal.moola@...il.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, x86@...nel.org,
	"Mike Rapoport (Microsoft)" <rppt@...nel.org>,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org,
	Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@...nel.org>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5 1/4] mm: Add address apis for ptdescs

On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 12:13:10PM -0800, Dave Hansen wrote:
> On 2/11/26 11:52, Vishal Moola (Oracle) wrote:
> > +/**
> > + * pgtable_alloc_addr - Allocate pagetables to get an address
> > + * @gfp:       GFP flags
> > + * @order:     desired pagetable order
> 
> FWIW, I don't like how pgtable_alloc_addr() looks in practice. It reads
> like it is: "allocate a page table address", not "allocate a page
> table". I don't have a better suggestion other than having:
> 
> 	pgtable_alloc()
> 
> that returns a page table pointer, a void*, and:
> 
> 	ptdesc_alloc()
> 
> which returns a ptdesc*. But I suspect that would get confusing at the
> point that ptdescs _themselves_ start getting allocated.

I think that's fine and consistent with folio_alloc().  Internally to
ptdesc_alloc(), it'll use a kmem_cache_alloc(), so there won't be
any confusion.