From: Lance Yang When freeing page tables, we try to batch them. If batch allocation fails (GFP_NOWAIT), __tlb_remove_table_one() immediately frees the one without batching. On !CONFIG_PT_RECLAIM, the fallback sends an IPI to all CPUs via tlb_remove_table_sync_one(). It disrupts all CPUs even when only a single process is unmapping memory. IPI broadcast was reported to hurt RT workloads[1]. tlb_remove_table_sync_one() synchronizes with lockless page-table walkers (e.g. GUP-fast) that rely on IRQ disabling. These walkers use local_irq_disable(), which is also an RCU read-side critical section. This patch introduces tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu() which uses RCU grace period (synchronize_rcu()) instead of IPI broadcast. This provides the same guarantee as IPI but without disrupting all CPUs. Since batch allocation already failed, we are in a slow path where sleeping is acceptable - we are in process context (unmap_region, exit_mmap) with only mmap_lock held. tlb_remove_table_sync_one() is retained for other callers (e.g., khugepaged after pmdp_collapse_flush(), tlb_finish_mmu() when tlb->fully_unshared_tables) that are not slow paths. Converting those may require different approaches such as targeted IPIs. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/1b27a3fa-359a-43d0-bdeb-c31341749367@kernel.org/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260202150957.GD1282955@noisy.programming.kicks-ass.net/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/dfdfeac9-5cd5-46fc-a5c1-9ccf9bd3502a@intel.com/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/bc489455-bb18-44dc-8518-ae75abda6bec@kernel.org/ Suggested-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) Suggested-by: Dave Hansen Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) Acked-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) Acked-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) Signed-off-by: Lance Yang --- v2 -> v3: - Remove explicit might_sleep() as synchronize_rcu() already has it (per Peter) - Add changelog explanation for why tlb_remove_table_sync_one() is retained (per Peter) - Collect Acked-by from David and Peter, thanks! - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260224030700.35857-1-lance.yang@linux.dev/ v1 -> v2: - Wrap synchronize_rcu() in tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu() with proper kerneldoc (per David) - Add might_sleep() to make sleeping constraint explicit (per Dave) - Clarify this is for synchronization, not memory freeing (per Dave) - https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260223033604.10198-1-lance.yang@linux.dev/ include/asm-generic/tlb.h | 4 ++++ mm/mmu_gather.c | 21 ++++++++++++++++++++- 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/include/asm-generic/tlb.h b/include/asm-generic/tlb.h index 4aeac0c3d3f0..bdcc2778ac64 100644 --- a/include/asm-generic/tlb.h +++ b/include/asm-generic/tlb.h @@ -251,6 +251,8 @@ static inline void tlb_remove_table(struct mmu_gather *tlb, void *table) void tlb_remove_table_sync_one(void); +void tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu(void); + #else #ifdef tlb_needs_table_invalidate @@ -259,6 +261,8 @@ void tlb_remove_table_sync_one(void); static inline void tlb_remove_table_sync_one(void) { } +static inline void tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu(void) { } + #endif /* CONFIG_MMU_GATHER_RCU_TABLE_FREE */ diff --git a/mm/mmu_gather.c b/mm/mmu_gather.c index fe5b6a031717..3985d856de7f 100644 --- a/mm/mmu_gather.c +++ b/mm/mmu_gather.c @@ -296,6 +296,25 @@ static void tlb_remove_table_free(struct mmu_table_batch *batch) call_rcu(&batch->rcu, tlb_remove_table_rcu); } +/** + * tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu - synchronize with software page-table walkers + * + * Like tlb_remove_table_sync_one() but uses RCU grace period instead of IPI + * broadcast. Use in slow paths where sleeping is acceptable. + * + * Software/Lockless page-table walkers use local_irq_disable(), which is also + * an RCU read-side critical section. synchronize_rcu() waits for all such + * sections, providing the same guarantee as tlb_remove_table_sync_one() but + * without disrupting all CPUs with IPIs. + * + * Do not use for freeing memory. Use RCU callbacks instead to avoid latency + * spikes. + */ +void tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu(void) +{ + synchronize_rcu(); +} + #else /* !CONFIG_MMU_GATHER_RCU_TABLE_FREE */ static void tlb_remove_table_free(struct mmu_table_batch *batch) @@ -339,7 +358,7 @@ static inline void __tlb_remove_table_one(void *table) #else static inline void __tlb_remove_table_one(void *table) { - tlb_remove_table_sync_one(); + tlb_remove_table_sync_rcu(); __tlb_remove_table(table); } #endif /* CONFIG_PT_RECLAIM */ -- 2.49.0