Linux kernel ============ The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware, system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software. Quick Start ----------- * Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst * Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org * Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst * Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/ Essential Documentation ----------------------- All users should be familiar with: * Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst * Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst * License: See COPYING Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/ Who Are You? ============ Find your role below: * New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development * Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture * Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis * Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels * System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting * Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches * Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware * Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros For Specific Users ================== New Kernel Developer -------------------- Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here: * Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst * Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst * Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst * Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst * Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst * Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst * Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst Academic Researcher ------------------- Explore the kernel's architecture and internals: * Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst * Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst * Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst * Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst * Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst * RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst * Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst * Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst Security Expert --------------- Security documentation and hardening guides: * Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst * LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst * Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst * Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst * CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst * Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst * Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst Backport/Maintenance Engineer ----------------------------- Maintain and stabilize kernel versions: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst * Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst * Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst System Administrator -------------------- Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems: * Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst * Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst * Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst * Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst Maintainer ---------- Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions: * Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst * Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst * Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst * Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst * Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst * Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst Hardware Vendor --------------- Write drivers and support new hardware: * Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst * Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst * Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst * Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst * Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/ * Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst * DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst Distribution Maintainer ----------------------- Package and distribute the kernel: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README * Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst * Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst Communication and Support ========================= * Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/ * IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net * Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/ * MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists * Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst
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To access SLUB's internal implementation details beyond cache flags in
ksize(), move __ksize(), ksize(), and slab_ksize() to mm/slub.c.
[vbabka@suse.cz: also make __ksize() static and move its kerneldoc to
ksize() ]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-9-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
The leftover space in a slab is always smaller than s->size, and
kmem caches for large objects that are not power-of-two sizes tend to have
a greater amount of leftover space per slab. In some cases, the leftover
space is larger than the size of the slabobj_ext array for the slab.
An excellent example of such a cache is ext4_inode_cache. On my system,
the object size is 1136, with a preferred order of 3, 28 objects per slab,
and 960 bytes of leftover space per slab.
Since the size of the slabobj_ext array is only 224 bytes (w/o mem
profiling) or 448 bytes (w/ mem profiling) per slab, the entire array
fits within the leftover space.
Allocate the slabobj_exts array from this unused space instead of using
kcalloc() when it is large enough. The array is allocated from unused
space only when creating new slabs, and it doesn't try to utilize unused
space if alloc_slab_obj_exts() is called after slab creation because
implementing lazy allocation involves more expensive synchronization.
The implementation and evaluation of lazy allocation from unused space
is left as future-work. As pointed by Vlastimil Babka [1], it could be
beneficial when a slab cache without SLAB_ACCOUNT can be created, and
some of the allocations from the cache use __GFP_ACCOUNT. For example,
xarray does that.
To avoid unnecessary overhead when MEMCG (with SLAB_ACCOUNT) and
MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING are not used for the cache, allocate the slabobj_ext
array only when either of them is enabled on slab allocation.
[ MEMCG=y, MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING=n ]
Before patch (creating ~2.64M directories on ext4):
Slab: 4747880 kB
SReclaimable: 4169652 kB
SUnreclaim: 578228 kB
After patch (creating ~2.64M directories on ext4):
Slab: 4724020 kB
SReclaimable: 4169188 kB
SUnreclaim: 554832 kB (-22.84 MiB)
Enjoy the memory savings!
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/48029aab-20ea-4d90-bfd1-255592b2018e@suse.cz [1]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-8-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
In the near future, slabobj_ext may reside outside the allocated slab
object range within a slab, which could be reported as an out-of-bounds
access by KASAN.
As suggested by Andrey Konovalov [1], explicitly disable KASAN and KMSAN
checks when accessing slabobj_ext within slab allocator, memory profiling,
and memory cgroup code. While an alternative approach could be to unpoison
slabobj_ext, out-of-bounds accesses outside the slab allocator are
generally more common.
Move metadata_access_enable()/disable() helpers to mm/slab.h so that
it can be used outside mm/slub.c. However, as suggested by Suren
Baghdasaryan [2], instead of calling them directly from mm code (which is
more prone to errors), change users to access slabobj_ext via get/put
APIs:
- Users should call get_slab_obj_exts() to access slabobj_metadata
and call put_slab_obj_exts() when it's done.
- From now on, accessing it outside the section covered by
get_slab_obj_exts() ~ put_slab_obj_exts() is illegal.
This ensures that accesses to slabobj_ext metadata won't be reported
as access violations.
Call kasan_reset_tag() in slab_obj_ext() before returning the address to
prevent SW or HW tag-based KASAN from reporting false positives.
Suggested-by: Andrey Konovalov <andreyknvl@gmail.com>
Suggested-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/CA+fCnZezoWn40BaS3cgmCeLwjT+5AndzcQLc=wH3BjMCu6_YCw@mail.gmail.com [1]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/CAJuCfpG=Lb4WhYuPkSpdNO4Ehtjm1YcEEK0OM=3g9i=LxmpHSQ@mail.gmail.com [2]
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-7-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Use a configurable stride value when accessing slab object extension
metadata instead of assuming a fixed sizeof(struct slabobj_ext).
Store stride value in free bits of slab->counters field. This allows
for flexibility in cases where the extension is embedded within
slab objects.
Since these free bits exist only on 64-bit, any future optimizations
that need to change stride value cannot be enabled on 32-bit architectures.
Suggested-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-6-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Currently, the slab allocator assumes that slab->obj_exts is a pointer
to an array of struct slabobj_ext objects. However, to support storage
methods where struct slabobj_ext is embedded within objects, the slab
allocator should not make this assumption. Instead of directly
dereferencing the slabobj_exts array, abstract access to
struct slabobj_ext via helper functions.
Introduce a new API slabobj_ext metadata access:
slab_obj_ext(slab, obj_exts, index) - returns the pointer to
struct slabobj_ext element at the given index.
Directly dereferencing the return value of slab_obj_exts() is no longer
allowed. Instead, slab_obj_ext() must always be used to access
individual struct slabobj_ext objects.
Convert all users to use these APIs.
No functional changes intended.
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-5-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Convert ext4_inode_cache to use the kmem_cache_args interface and
specify a free pointer offset.
Since ext4_inode_cache uses a constructor, the free pointer would be
placed after the object to prevent overwriting fields used by the
constructor.
However, some fields such as ->i_flags are not used by the constructor
and can safely be repurposed for the free pointer.
Specify the free pointer offset at i_flags to reduce the object size.
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-4-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
When a slab cache has a constructor, the free pointer is placed after the
object because certain fields must not be overwritten even after the
object is freed.
However, some fields that the constructor does not initialize can safely
be overwritten after free. Allow specifying the free pointer offset within
the object, reducing the overall object size when some fields can be reused
for the free pointer.
Adjust the document accordingly.
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-3-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
When both KASAN and SLAB_STORE_USER are enabled, accesses to
struct kasan_alloc_meta fields can be misaligned on 64-bit architectures.
This occurs because orig_size is currently defined as unsigned int,
which only guarantees 4-byte alignment. When struct kasan_alloc_meta is
placed after orig_size, it may end up at a 4-byte boundary rather than
the required 8-byte boundary on 64-bit systems.
Note that 64-bit architectures without HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
are assumed to require 64-bit accesses to be 64-bit aligned.
See HAVE_64BIT_ALIGNED_ACCESS and commit adab66b71abf ("Revert:
"ring-buffer: Remove HAVE_64BIT_ALIGNED_ACCESS"") for more details.
Change orig_size from unsigned int to unsigned long to ensure proper
alignment for any subsequent metadata. This should not waste additional
memory because kmalloc objects are already aligned to at least
ARCH_KMALLOC_MINALIGN.
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aPrLF0OUK651M4dk@hyeyoo
Suggested-by: Andrey Ryabinin <ryabinin.a.a@gmail.com>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 6edf2576a6cc ("mm/slub: enable debugging memory wasting of kmalloc")
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/aPrLF0OUK651M4dk@hyeyoo/
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260113061845.159790-2-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
The comments above check_pad_bytes() document the field layout of a
single object. Rewrite them to improve clarity and precision.
Also update an outdated comment in calculate_sizes().
Suggested-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Acked-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Hao Li <hao.li@linux.dev>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251229122415.192377-1-hao.li@linux.dev
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
When allocating slabobj_ext array in alloc_slab_obj_exts(), the array
can be allocated from the same slab we're allocating the array for.
This led to obj_exts_in_slab() incorrectly returning true [1],
although the array is not allocated from wasted space of the slab.
Vlastimil Babka observed that this problem should be fixed even when
ignoring its incompatibility with obj_exts_in_slab(), because it creates
slabs that are never freed as there is always at least one allocated
object.
To avoid this, use the next kmalloc size or large kmalloc when
the array can be allocated from the same cache we're allocating
the array for.
In case of random kmalloc caches, there are multiple kmalloc caches
for the same size and the cache is selected based on the caller address.
Because it is fragile to ensure the same caller address is passed to
kmalloc_slab(), kmalloc_noprof(), and kmalloc_node_noprof(), bump the
size to (s->object_size + 1) when the sizes are equal, instead of
directly comparing the kmem_cache pointers.
Note that this doesn't happen when memory allocation profiling is
disabled, as when the allocation of the array is triggered by memory
cgroup (KMALLOC_CGROUP), the array is allocated from KMALLOC_NORMAL.
Reported-by: kernel test robot <oliver.sang@intel.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/oe-lkp/202601231457.f7b31e09-lkp@intel.com [1]
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 4b8736964640 ("mm/slab: add allocation accounting into slab allocation and free paths")
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260126125714.88008-1-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Reviewed-by: Hao Li <hao.li@linux.dev>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
slab_mergeable() determines whether a slab cache can be merged, but it
should not be used when the cache is not fully created yet.
Extract the pre-cache-creation mergeability checks into
slab_args_unmergeable(), which evaluates kmem_cache_args, slab flags,
and slab_nomerge to determine if a cache will be mergeable before it is
created.
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260127103151.21883-2-harry.yoo@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Before enabling sheaves for all caches (with automatically determined
capacity), their enablement should no longer prevent merging of caches.
Limit this merge prevention only to caches that were created with a
specific sheaf capacity, by adding the SLAB_NO_MERGE flag to them.
Reviewed-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Liam R. Howlett <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Move __kmem_cache_alias() to slab_common.c since it's called by
__kmem_cache_create_args() and calls find_mergeable() that both
are in this file. We can remove two slab.h declarations and make
them static. Instead declare sysfs_slab_alias() from slub.c so
that __kmem_cache_alias() can keep calling it.
Add args parameter to __kmem_cache_alias() and find_mergeable() instead
of align and ctor. With that we can also move the checks for usersize
and sheaf_capacity there from __kmem_cache_create_args() and make the
result more symmetric with slab_unmergeable().
No functional changes intended.
Reviewed-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Liam R. Howlett <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
All the debug flags prevent merging, except SLAB_CONSISTENCY_CHECKS. This
is suboptimal because this flag (like any debug flags) prevents the
usage of any fastpaths, and thus affect performance of any aliased
cache. Also the objects from an aliased cache than the one specified for
debugging could also interfere with the debugging efforts.
Fix this by adding the whole SLAB_DEBUG_FLAGS collection to
SLAB_NEVER_MERGE instead of individual debug flags, so it now also
includes SLAB_CONSISTENCY_CHECKS.
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
kvfree_call_rcu() can be called while holding a raw_spinlock_t.
Since __kfree_rcu_sheaf() may acquire a spinlock_t (which becomes a
sleeping lock on PREEMPT_RT) and violate lock nesting rules,
kvfree_call_rcu() bypasses the sheaves layer entirely on PREEMPT_RT.
However, lockdep still complains about acquiring spinlock_t while holding
raw_spinlock_t, even on !PREEMPT_RT where spinlock_t is a spinning lock.
This causes a false lockdep warning [1]:
=============================
[ BUG: Invalid wait context ]
6.19.0-rc6-next-20260120 #21508 Not tainted
-----------------------------
migration/1/23 is trying to lock:
ffff8afd01054e98 (&barn->lock){..-.}-{3:3}, at: barn_get_empty_sheaf+0x1d/0xb0
other info that might help us debug this:
context-{5:5}
3 locks held by migration/1/23:
#0: ffff8afd01fd89a8 (&p->pi_lock){-.-.}-{2:2}, at: __balance_push_cpu_stop+0x3f/0x200
#1: ffffffff9f15c5c8 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: cpuset_cpus_allowed_fallback+0x27/0x250
#2: ffff8afd1f470be0 ((local_lock_t *)&pcs->lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: __kfree_rcu_sheaf+0x52/0x3d0
stack backtrace:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 23 Comm: migration/1 Not tainted 6.19.0-rc6-next-20260120 #21508 PREEMPTLAZY
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
Stopper: __balance_push_cpu_stop+0x0/0x200 <- balance_push+0x118/0x170
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__dump_stack+0x22/0x30
dump_stack_lvl+0x60/0x80
dump_stack+0x19/0x24
__lock_acquire+0xd3a/0x28e0
? __lock_acquire+0x5a9/0x28e0
? __lock_acquire+0x5a9/0x28e0
? barn_get_empty_sheaf+0x1d/0xb0
lock_acquire+0xc3/0x270
? barn_get_empty_sheaf+0x1d/0xb0
? __kfree_rcu_sheaf+0x52/0x3d0
_raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x47/0x70
? barn_get_empty_sheaf+0x1d/0xb0
barn_get_empty_sheaf+0x1d/0xb0
? __kfree_rcu_sheaf+0x52/0x3d0
__kfree_rcu_sheaf+0x19f/0x3d0
kvfree_call_rcu+0xaf/0x390
set_cpus_allowed_force+0xc8/0xf0
[...]
</TASK>
This wasn't triggered until sheaves were enabled for all slab caches,
since kfree_rcu() wasn't being called with a raw spinlock held for
caches with sheaves (vma, maple node).
As suggested by Vlastimil Babka, fix this by using a lockdep map with
LD_WAIT_CONFIG wait type to tell lockdep that acquiring spinlock_t is valid
in this case, as those spinlocks won't be used on PREEMPT_RT.
Note that kfree_rcu_sheaf_map should be acquired using _try() variant,
otherwise the acquisition of the lockdep map itself will trigger an invalid
wait context warning.
Reported-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/c858b9af-2510-448b-9ab3-058f7b80dd42@paulmck-laptop [1]
Fixes: ec66e0d59952 ("slab: add sheaf support for batching kfree_rcu() operations")
Suggested-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
After we submit the rcu_free sheaves to call_rcu() we need to make sure
the rcu callbacks complete. kvfree_rcu_barrier() does that via
flush_all_rcu_sheaves() but kvfree_rcu_barrier_on_cache() doesn't. Fix
that.
This currently causes no issues because the caches with sheaves we have
are never destroyed. The problem flagged by kernel test robot was
reported for a patch that enables sheaves for (almost) all caches, and
occurred only with CONFIG_KASAN. Harry Yoo found the root cause [1]:
It turns out the object freed by sheaf_flush_unused() was in KASAN
percpu quarantine list (confirmed by dumping the list) by the time
__kmem_cache_shutdown() returns an error.
Quarantined objects are supposed to be flushed by kasan_cache_shutdown(),
but things go wrong if the rcu callback (rcu_free_sheaf_nobarn()) is
processed after kasan_cache_shutdown() finishes.
That's why rcu_barrier() in __kmem_cache_shutdown() didn't help,
because it's called after kasan_cache_shutdown().
Calling rcu_barrier() in kvfree_rcu_barrier_on_cache() guarantees
that it'll be added to the quarantine list before kasan_cache_shutdown()
is called. So it's a valid fix!
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/aWd6f3jERlrB5yeF@hyeyoo/
Reported-by: kernel test robot <oliver.sang@intel.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/oe-lkp/202601121442.c530bed3-lkp@intel.com
Fixes: 0f35040de593 ("mm/slab: introduce kvfree_rcu_barrier_on_cache() for cache destruction")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Reviewed-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Tested-by: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Liam R. Howlett <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>