This section is to explain how HugeTLB Vmemmap Optimization (HVO) works.
-The struct page structures (page structs) are used to describe a physical
-page frame. By default, there is a one-to-one mapping from a page frame to
-it's corresponding page struct.
+The ``struct page`` structures are used to describe a physical page frame. By
+default, there is a one-to-one mapping from a page frame to it's corresponding
+``struct page``.
HugeTLB pages consist of multiple base page size pages and is supported by many
architectures. See Documentation/admin-guide/mm/hugetlbpage.rst for more
details. On the x86-64 architecture, HugeTLB pages of size 2MB and 1GB are
currently supported. Since the base page size on x86 is 4KB, a 2MB HugeTLB page
consists of 512 base pages and a 1GB HugeTLB page consists of 4096 base pages.
-For each base page, there is a corresponding page struct.
+For each base page, there is a corresponding ``struct page``.
-Within the HugeTLB subsystem, only the first 4 page structs are used to
-contain unique information about a HugeTLB page. __NR_USED_SUBPAGE provides
-this upper limit. The only 'useful' information in the remaining page structs
+Within the HugeTLB subsystem, only the first 4 ``struct page`` are used to
+contain unique information about a HugeTLB page. ``__NR_USED_SUBPAGE`` provides
+this upper limit. The only 'useful' information in the remaining ``struct page``
is the compound_head field, and this field is the same for all tail pages.
-By removing redundant page structs for HugeTLB pages, memory can be returned
+By removing redundant ``struct page`` for HugeTLB pages, memory can be returned
to the buddy allocator for other uses.
Different architectures support different HugeTLB pages. For example, the
| | 64KB | 2MB | 512MB | 16GB | |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
-When the system boot up, every HugeTLB page has more than one struct page
+When the system boot up, every HugeTLB page has more than one ``struct page``
structs which size is (unit: pages)::
struct_size = HugeTLB_Size / PAGE_SIZE * sizeof(struct page) / PAGE_SIZE
n is (PAGE_SIZE / sizeof(pte_t)).
This optimization only supports 64-bit system, so the value of sizeof(pte_t)
-is 8. And this optimization also applicable only when the size of struct page
-is a power of two. In most cases, the size of struct page is 64 bytes (e.g.
+is 8. And this optimization also applicable only when the size of ``struct page``
+is a power of two. In most cases, the size of ``struct page`` is 64 bytes (e.g.
x86-64 and arm64). So if we use pmd level mapping for a HugeTLB page, the
-size of struct page structs of it is 8 page frames which size depends on the
+size of ``struct page`` structs of it is 8 page frames which size depends on the
size of the base page.
For the HugeTLB page of the pud level mapping, then::
= PAGE_SIZE / 8 * 8 (pages)
= PAGE_SIZE (pages)
-Where the struct_size(pmd) is the size of the struct page structs of a
+Where the struct_size(pmd) is the size of the ``struct page`` structs of a
HugeTLB page of the pmd level mapping.
E.g.: A 2MB HugeTLB page on x86_64 consists in 8 page frames while 1GB
Next, we take the pmd level mapping of the HugeTLB page as an example to
show the internal implementation of this optimization. There are 8 pages
-struct page structs associated with a HugeTLB page which is pmd mapped.
+``struct page`` structs associated with a HugeTLB page which is pmd mapped.
Here is how things look before optimization::
+-----------+
The value of page->compound_head is the same for all tail pages. The first
-page of page structs (page 0) associated with the HugeTLB page contains the 4
-page structs necessary to describe the HugeTLB. The only use of the remaining
-pages of page structs (page 1 to page 7) is to point to page->compound_head.
-Therefore, we can remap pages 1 to 7 to page 0. Only 1 page of page structs
+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_head.
+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 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.
+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 (more details refer to the comment above compound_head()).
+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``. The following code
+snippet describes how to distinguish between real and fake head ``struct page``.
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ if (test_bit(PG_head, &page->flags)) {
+ unsigned long head = READ_ONCE(page[1].compound_head);
+
+ if (head & 1) {
+ if (head == (unsigned long)page + 1)
+ /* head struct page */
+ else
+ /* tail struct page */
+ } else {
+ /* head struct page */
+ }
+ }
+
+We can safely access the field of the **page[1]** with ``PG_head`` because the
+page is a compound page composed with at least two contiguous pages.
+The implementation refers to ``page_fixed_fake_head()``.
Device DAX
==========
The differences with HugeTLB are relatively minor.
-It only use 3 page structs for storing all information as opposed
+It only use 3 ``struct page`` for storing all information as opposed
to 4 on HugeTLB pages.
There's no remapping of vmemmap given that device-dax memory is not part of
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