[PATCH v5 00/17] Remove PG_private by using page/folio->private checks instead
Andrew Morton
akpm at linux-foundation.org
Sun Sep 20 21:08:59 PDT 2026
On Sun, 20 Sep 2026 22:27:56 -0400 Zi Yan <ziy at nvidia.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This patchset removes PG_private to make space for upcoming PG_folio for
> identifying pages from a folio (more details in Note below). Instead of
> checking PG_private, all code is changed to check page/folio->private !=
> NULL instead.
Thanks, I updated mm-unstable to this version.
> Changes in v5:
> 1. replaced md patches (patch 13 and 14 in v4) with Matthew Wilcox's
> version (see Matthew's replies to v4).
> 2. used data_race() inside folio_test_private() and PagePrivate(), so that
> the new versions can be used without KCSAN warnings while not holding
> folio lock like before.
> 3. moved folio_has_attached_private() implementation detail comment next to
> the code.
Here's how v5 altered mm.git:
drivers/md/md-bitmap.c | 17 ++++++++---------
fs/buffer.c | 8 --------
include/linux/buffer_head.h | 2 +-
include/linux/mm.h | 3 +--
include/linux/page-flags.h | 30 +++++++++++++++++++-----------
include/trace/events/pagemap.h | 3 +--
mm/huge_memory.c | 3 +--
mm/page-writeback.c | 3 +--
8 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
--- a/drivers/md/md-bitmap.c~b
+++ a/drivers/md/md-bitmap.c
@@ -516,7 +516,8 @@ static void end_bitmap_write(struct bio
static void write_file_page(struct bitmap *bitmap, struct page *page, int wait)
{
- struct buffer_head *bh = (struct buffer_head *)page_private(page);
+ struct folio *folio = page_folio(page);
+ struct buffer_head *bh = folio_buffers(folio);
while (bh && bh->b_blocknr) {
atomic_inc(&bitmap->pending_writes);
@@ -533,18 +534,15 @@ static void write_file_page(struct bitma
static void free_buffers(struct page *page)
{
- struct buffer_head *bh = (struct buffer_head *)page_private(page);
-
- if (!bh)
- return;
+ struct folio *folio = page_folio(page);
+ struct buffer_head *bh = folio_detach_private(folio);
while (bh) {
struct buffer_head *next = bh->b_this_page;
free_buffer_head(bh);
bh = next;
}
- detach_page_private(page);
- put_page(page);
+ folio_put(folio);
}
/* read a page from a file.
@@ -559,6 +557,7 @@ static int read_file_page(struct file *f
{
int ret = 0;
struct inode *inode = file_inode(file);
+ struct folio *folio = page_folio(page);
struct buffer_head *bh;
sector_t block, blk_cur;
unsigned long blocksize = i_blocksize(inode);
@@ -566,12 +565,12 @@ static int read_file_page(struct file *f
pr_debug("read bitmap file (%dB @ %llu)\n", (int)PAGE_SIZE,
(unsigned long long)index << PAGE_SHIFT);
- bh = alloc_page_buffers(page, blocksize);
+ bh = folio_alloc_buffers(folio, blocksize, GFP_NOFS | __GFP_ACCOUNT);
if (!bh) {
ret = -ENOMEM;
goto out;
}
- attach_page_private(page, bh);
+ folio_attach_private(folio, bh);
blk_cur = index << (PAGE_SHIFT - inode->i_blkbits);
while (bh) {
block = blk_cur;
--- a/fs/buffer.c~b
+++ a/fs/buffer.c
@@ -773,14 +773,6 @@ no_grow:
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(folio_alloc_buffers);
-struct buffer_head *alloc_page_buffers(struct page *page, unsigned long size)
-{
- gfp_t gfp = GFP_NOFS | __GFP_ACCOUNT;
-
- return folio_alloc_buffers(page_folio(page), size, gfp);
-}
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(alloc_page_buffers);
-
static inline void link_dev_buffers(struct folio *folio,
struct buffer_head *head)
{
--- a/include/linux/buffer_head.h~b
+++ a/include/linux/buffer_head.h
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ static inline unsigned long bh_offset(co
return (unsigned long)(bh)->b_data & (page_size(bh->b_page) - 1);
}
+/* If we *know* folio->private refers to buffer_heads */
#define folio_buffers(folio) folio_get_private(folio)
void buffer_check_dirty_writeback(struct folio *folio,
@@ -191,7 +192,6 @@ void folio_set_bh(struct buffer_head *bh
unsigned long offset);
struct buffer_head *folio_alloc_buffers(struct folio *folio, unsigned long size,
gfp_t gfp);
-struct buffer_head *alloc_page_buffers(struct page *page, unsigned long size);
struct buffer_head *create_empty_buffers(struct folio *folio,
unsigned long blocksize, unsigned long b_state);
void end_buffer_read_sync(struct buffer_head *bh, int uptodate);
--- a/include/linux/mm.h~b
+++ a/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -3052,9 +3052,8 @@ static inline int folio_expected_ref_cou
ref_count += !!data_race(folio->mapping) << order;
/*
* One reference from filesystem private data.
- * Use data_race() since folio might not be locked.
*/
- ref_count += data_race(folio_has_attached_private(folio));
+ ref_count += folio_has_attached_private(folio);
}
/* One reference per page table mapping. */
--- a/include/linux/page-flags.h~b
+++ a/include/linux/page-flags.h
@@ -576,7 +576,12 @@ FOLIO_FLAG(swapbacked, FOLIO_HEAD_PAGE)
static __always_inline bool folio_test_private(const struct folio *folio)
{
- return folio->private;
+ /*
+ * data_race() is added for readers without holding the folio lock.
+ * Only the NULL/non-NULL answer is used and both are valid while
+ * private is being attached or detached, so the race is benign.
+ */
+ return data_race(folio->private);
}
FOLIO_FLAG(private_2, FOLIO_HEAD_PAGE)
@@ -1199,20 +1204,23 @@ static __always_inline void __ClearPageA
* @folio: The folio to check.
*
* Use this in code that may encounter swapcache or hugetlb folios but only
- * wants to detect attached private data. Swapcache stores swp_entry_t in
- * folio->swap, a union with folio->private, and hugetlb stores its own flags
- * in folio->private; both are excluded.
- *
- * NOTE: For swapcache, folio->swap.val PG_swapcache are not set as a whole,
- * so folio_test_swapcache() is not reliable to exclude swapcache.
- * Use folio_test_swapbacked() instead, since it remains set when a folio is
- * added to/removed from swapcache.
+ * wants to detect attached private data.
*
- * Return: true if folio->private is set and the folio is neither swapcache
- * nor hugetlb.
+ * Return: true if the folio has private data attached.
*/
static inline bool folio_has_attached_private(const struct folio *folio)
{
+ /*
+ * Swapcache stores swp_entry_t in folio->swap, a union with
+ * folio->private, and hugetlb stores its own flags in folio->private;
+ * both are excluded.
+ *
+ * NOTE: For swapcache, folio->swap.val PG_swapcache are not set as
+ * a whole, so folio_test_swapcache() is not reliable to exclude
+ * swapcache. Use folio_test_swapbacked() instead, since it remains set
+ * when a folio is added to/removed from swapcache.
+ */
+
return folio_test_private(folio) && !folio_test_swapbacked(folio) &&
!folio_test_hugetlb(folio);
}
--- a/include/trace/events/pagemap.h~b
+++ a/include/trace/events/pagemap.h
@@ -22,8 +22,7 @@
(folio_test_swapcache(folio) ? PAGEMAP_SWAPCACHE : 0) | \
(folio_test_swapbacked(folio) ? PAGEMAP_SWAPBACKED : 0) | \
(folio_test_mappedtodisk(folio) ? PAGEMAP_MAPPEDDISK : 0) | \
- /* data_race() is used to read attached private locklessly */ \
- (data_race(folio_has_attached_private(folio)) ? PAGEMAP_BUFFERS : 0) \
+ (folio_has_attached_private(folio) ? PAGEMAP_BUFFERS : 0) \
)
TRACE_EVENT(mm_lru_insertion,
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c~b
+++ a/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -4845,9 +4845,8 @@ static int split_huge_pages_pid(int pid,
* For folios with private, split_huge_page_to_list_to_order()
* will try to drop it before split and then check if the folio
* can be split or not. So skip the check here.
- * data_race() is used to read attached private locklessly.
*/
- if (!data_race(folio_has_attached_private(folio)) &&
+ if (!folio_has_attached_private(folio) &&
folio_expected_ref_count(folio) != folio_ref_count(folio))
goto next;
--- a/mm/page-writeback.c~b
+++ a/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -2705,8 +2705,7 @@ bool filemap_dirty_folio(struct address_
if (folio_test_set_dirty(folio))
return false;
- /* data_race() is used to read attached private locklessly */
- __folio_mark_dirty(folio, mapping, !data_race(folio_has_attached_private(folio)));
+ __folio_mark_dirty(folio, mapping, !folio_has_attached_private(folio));
if (mapping->host) {
/* !PageAnon && !swapper_space */
_
More information about the linux-mtd
mailing list