[PATCH 1/2] arm64/mm: Move __check_safe_pte_update()

David Hildenbrand (Arm) david at kernel.org
Mon Sep 7 08:48:18 PDT 2026


On 9/1/26 08:54, Anshuman Khandual wrote:
> The page table entry print helpers and related macros which are defined in
> <linux/pgtable.h> will not be accessible in platform <asm/pgtable.h> which
> is basically caused by cycling dependency.
> 
> Move __check_safe_pte_update() inside arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c as a preparation
> for subsequent usage of the afore mentioned generic MM helpers.
> 
> This does not cause any functional change.
> 
> Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas at arm.com>
> Cc: Will Deacon <will at kernel.org>
> Cc: linux-arm-kernel at lists.infradead.org
> Cc: linux-kernel at vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual at arm.com>
> ---
> Should __check_safe_pte_update() be wrapped in #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM
> along with dropping off current IS_ENABLED() test. That would ensure
> the function never gets called when CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is disabled. That
> will preserve current behaviour as the inline function gets dropped
> when CONFIG_DEBUG_VM remains disabled.
> 
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h | 47 +-------------------------------
>  arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c              | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
> index e89ec5f4787b..61fbfab3e06e 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
> +++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
> @@ -387,52 +387,7 @@ static inline pte_t __ptep_get(pte_t *ptep)
>  extern void __sync_icache_dcache(pte_t pteval);
>  bool pgattr_change_is_safe(pteval_t old, pteval_t new);
>  
> -/*
> - * PTE bits configuration in the presence of hardware Dirty Bit Management
> - * (PTE_WRITE == PTE_DBM):
> - *
> - * Dirty  Writable | PTE_RDONLY  PTE_WRITE  PTE_DIRTY (sw)
> - *   0      0      |   1           0          0
> - *   0      1      |   1           1          0
> - *   1      0      |   1           0          1
> - *   1      1      |   0           1          x
> - *
> - * When hardware DBM is not present, the software PTE_DIRTY bit is updated via
> - * the page fault mechanism. Checking the dirty status of a pte becomes:
> - *
> - *   PTE_DIRTY || (PTE_WRITE && !PTE_RDONLY)
> - */
> -
> -static inline void __check_safe_pte_update(struct mm_struct *mm, pte_t *ptep,
> -					   pte_t pte)
> -{
> -	pte_t old_pte;
> -
> -	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_DEBUG_VM))
> -		return;
> -
> -	old_pte = __ptep_get(ptep);
> -
> -	if (!pte_valid(old_pte) || !pte_valid(pte))
> -		return;
> -	if (mm != current->active_mm && atomic_read(&mm->mm_users) <= 1)
> -		return;
> -
> -	/*
> -	 * Check for potential race with hardware updates of the pte
> -	 * (__ptep_set_access_flags safely changes valid ptes without going
> -	 * through an invalid entry).
> -	 */
> -	VM_WARN_ONCE(!pte_young(pte),
> -		     "%s: racy access flag clearing: 0x%016llx -> 0x%016llx",
> -		     __func__, pte_val(old_pte), pte_val(pte));
> -	VM_WARN_ONCE(pte_write(old_pte) && !pte_dirty(pte),
> -		     "%s: racy dirty state clearing: 0x%016llx -> 0x%016llx",
> -		     __func__, pte_val(old_pte), pte_val(pte));
> -	VM_WARN_ONCE(!pgattr_change_is_safe(pte_val(old_pte), pte_val(pte)),
> -		     "%s: unsafe attribute change: 0x%016llx -> 0x%016llx",
> -		     __func__, pte_val(old_pte), pte_val(pte));
> -}
> +void __check_safe_pte_update(struct mm_struct *mm, pte_t *ptep, pte_t pte);
>  

That implies that any __set_ptes_anysz() will invoke another function call that
will not be optimized out.

You should likely keep most of __check_safe_pte_update() in the header as an
inline function (or at least the CONFIG_DEBUG_VM check), and only move the "slow
path" code.

Alternatively, make the whole thing #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_VM and provide an empty
inline helper for !CONFIG_DEBUG_VM.

That's probably the cleanest, because performance with CONFIG_DEBUG_VM is not
really relevant.

-- 
Cheers,

David



More information about the linux-arm-kernel mailing list