[PATCHv7 17/18] hugetlb: Update vmemmap_dedup.rst

[Muchun Song]

> On Feb 28, 2026, at 03:42, Kiryl Shutsemau (Meta) <kas at kernel.org> wrote:
> 
> From: Kiryl Shutsemau <kas at kernel.org>
> 
> Update the documentation regarding vmemmap optimization for hugetlb to
> reflect the changes in how the kernel maps the tail pages.
> 
> Fake heads no longer exist. Remove their description.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Kiryl Shutsemau <kas at kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Muchun Song <muchun.song at linux.dev>
> Reviewed-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david at kernel.org>
> ---
> Documentation/mm/vmemmap_dedup.rst | 60 +++++++++++++-----------------
> 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/mm/vmemmap_dedup.rst b/Documentation/mm/vmemmap_dedup.rst
> index 1863d88d2dcb..4aaef36d8971 100644
> --- a/Documentation/mm/vmemmap_dedup.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/mm/vmemmap_dedup.rst
> @@ -124,33 +124,35 @@ Here is how things look before optimization::
>  |           |
>  +-----------+
> 
> -The value of page->compound_info is the same for all tail pages. The first
> -page of ``struct page`` (page 0) associated with the HugeTLB page contains the 4
> -``struct page`` necessary to describe the HugeTLB. The only use of the remaining
> -pages of ``struct page`` (page 1 to page 7) is to point to page->compound_info.
> -Therefore, we can remap pages 1 to 7 to page 0. Only 1 page of ``struct page``
> -will be used for each HugeTLB page. This will allow us to free the remaining
> -7 pages to the buddy allocator.
> +The first page of ``struct page`` (page 0) associated with the HugeTLB page
> +contains the 4 ``struct page`` necessary to describe the HugeTLB. The remaining
> +pages of ``struct page`` (page 1 to page 7) are tail pages.
> +
> +The optimization is only applied when the size of the struct page is a power-of-2
> +In this case, all tail pages of the same order are identical. See
> +compound_head(). This allows us to remap the tail pages of the vmemmap to a
> +shared, read-only page. The head page is also remapped to a new page. This
> +allows the original vmemmap pages to be freed.
> 
> Here is how things look after remapping::
> 
> -    HugeTLB                  struct pages(8 pages)         page frame(8 pages)
> - +-----------+ ---virt_to_page---> +-----------+   mapping to   +-----------+
> - |           |                     |     0     | -------------> |     0     |
> - |           |                     +-----------+                +-----------+
> - |           |                     |     1     | ---------------^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
> - |           |                     +-----------+                  | | | | | |
> - |           |                     |     2     | -----------------+ | | | | |
> - |           |                     +-----------+                    | | | | |
> - |           |                     |     3     | -------------------+ | | | |
> - |           |                     +-----------+                      | | | |
> - |           |                     |     4     | ---------------------+ | | |
> - |    PMD    |                     +-----------+                        | | |
> - |   level   |                     |     5     | -----------------------+ | |
> - |  mapping  |                     +-----------+                          | |
> - |           |                     |     6     | -------------------------+ |
> - |           |                     +-----------+                            |
> - |           |                     |     7     | ---------------------------+
> +    HugeTLB                  struct pages(8 pages)                 page frame (new)
> + +-----------+ ---virt_to_page---> +-----------+   mapping to   +----------------+
> + |           |                     |     0     | -------------> |       0        |
> + |           |                     +-----------+                +----------------+
> + |           |                     |     1     | ------┐
> + |           |                     +-----------+       |
> + |           |                     |     2     | ------┼        +----------------------------+
> + |           |                     +-----------+       |        | A single, per-node page    |

You've changed it to per-node-per-zone. Need update.

> + |           |                     |     3     | ------┼------> | frame shared among all     |
> + |           |                     +-----------+       |        | hugepages of the same size |
> + |           |                     |     4     | ------┼        +----------------------------+
> + |           |                     +-----------+       |
> + |           |                     |     5     | ------┼
> + |    PMD    |                     +-----------+       |
> + |   level   |                     |     6     | ------┼
> + |  mapping  |                     +-----------+       |
> + |           |                     |     7     | ------┘
>  |           |                     +-----------+
>  |           |
>  |           |
> @@ -172,16 +174,6 @@ The contiguous bit is used to increase the mapping size at the pmd and pte
> (last) level. So this type of HugeTLB page can be optimized only when its
> size of the ``struct page`` structs is greater than **1** page.
> 
> -Notice: The head vmemmap page is not freed to the buddy allocator and all
> -tail vmemmap pages are mapped to the head vmemmap page frame. So we can see
> -more than one ``struct page`` struct with ``PG_head`` (e.g. 8 per 2 MB HugeTLB
> -page) associated with each HugeTLB page. The ``compound_head()`` can handle
> -this correctly. There is only **one** head ``struct page``, the tail
> -``struct page`` with ``PG_head`` are fake head ``struct page``.  We need an
> -approach to distinguish between those two different types of ``struct page`` so
> -that ``compound_head()`` can return the real head ``struct page`` when the
> -parameter is the tail ``struct page`` but with ``PG_head``.
> -
> Device DAX
> ==========
> 
> -- 
> 2.51.2
>