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

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Message-ID: <aY0ALB5yKXLY-M-X@fedora>
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2026 14:18:20 -0800
From: "Vishal Moola (Oracle)" <vishal.moola@...il.com>
To: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...el.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, x86@...nel.org,
	"Mike Rapoport (Microsoft)" <rppt@...nel.org>,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org,
	"Matthew Wilcox (Oracle)" <willy@...radead.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:

Hmmm. I meant for it to read "allocate a page table and get its address."

> 	pgtable_alloc()
> 
> that returns a page table pointer, a void*, and:

Initially, I intended to name it pgtable_alloc() & pgtable_free(). I saw
arm using pgtable_alloc() and powerpc using pgtable_free(), so I looked
for another name.

> 	ptdesc_alloc()
> 
> which returns a ptdesc*. But I suspect that would get confusing at the
> point that ptdescs _themselves_ start getting allocated.

The ptdesc_alloc() equivalent right now is named pagetable_alloc(), so I
don't think it'd get confusing.