Linux kernel source tree
Go to file
Suren Baghdasaryan d14514c66c mm/vmscan: prevent MGLRU reclaim from pinning address space
When shrinking lruvec, MGLRU pins address space before walking it.  This
is excessive since all it needs for walking the page range is a stable
mm_struct to be able to take and release mmap_read_lock and a stable
mm->mm_mt tree to walk.  This address space pinning results in delays when
releasing the memory of a dying process.  This also prevents mm reapers
(both in-kernel oom-reaper and userspace process_mrelease()) from doing
their job during MGLRU scan because they check task_will_free_mem() which
will yield negative result due to the elevated mm->mm_users.

This affects the system in the sense that if the MM of the killed
process is being reclaimed by kswapd then reapers won't be able to reap
it.  Even the process itself (which might have higher-priority than
kswapd) will not free its memory until kswapd drops the last reference.
IOW, we delay freeing the memory because kswapd is reclaiming it.  In
Android the visible result for us is that process_mrelease() (userspace
reaper) skips MM in such cases and we see process memory not released
for an unusually long time (secs).

Replace unnecessary address space pinning with mm_struct pinning by
replacing mmget/mmput with mmgrab/mmdrop calls.  mm_mt is contained within
mm_struct itself, therefore it won't be freed as long as mm_struct is
stable and it won't change during the walk because mmap_read_lock is being
held.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260322070843.941997-1-surenb@google.com
Fixes: bd74fdaea1 ("mm: multi-gen LRU: support page table walks")
Signed-off-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (Oracle) <ljs@kernel.org>
Cc: Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@google.com>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Cc: Liam Howlett <liam.howlett@oracle.com>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox (Oracle) <willy@infradead.org>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@kernel.org>
Cc: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@bytedance.com>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Wei Xu <weixugc@google.com>
Cc: Yuanchu Xie <yuanchu@google.com>
Cc: Yu Zhao <yuzhao@google.com>
Cc: Kalesh Singh <kaleshsingh@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
2026-04-18 00:10:50 -07:00
arch mm: convert do_brk_flags() to use vma_flags_t 2026-04-05 13:53:40 -07:00
block block-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:36:18 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto crypto: testmgr - Fix stale references to aes-generic 2026-03-03 11:57:15 -08:00
Documentation kho: document kexec-metadata tracking feature 2026-04-18 00:10:49 -07:00
drivers uio: replace deprecated mmap hook with mmap_prepare in uio_info 2026-04-05 13:53:44 -07:00
fs writeback: prevent memory cgroup release in writeback module 2026-04-18 00:10:45 -07:00
include liveupdate: make unregister functions return void 2026-04-18 00:10:50 -07:00
init mm: introduce CONFIG_NUMA_MIGRATION and simplify CONFIG_MIGRATION 2026-04-05 13:53:33 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260320 2026-03-20 09:58:56 -07:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel liveupdate: defer file handler module refcounting to active sessions 2026-04-18 00:10:50 -07:00
lib liveupdate: remove liveupdate_test_unregister() 2026-04-18 00:10:50 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm mm/vmscan: prevent MGLRU reclaim from pinning address space 2026-04-18 00:10:50 -07:00
net mm: introduce a new page type for page pool in page type 2026-04-05 13:53:19 -07:00
rust mm: rename zap_page_range_single() to zap_vma_range() 2026-04-05 13:53:15 -07:00
samples drm-fixes for 7.0-rc4 2026-03-13 15:38:55 -07:00
scripts livepatch/klp-build: Fix inconsistent kernel version 2026-03-16 12:50:17 -07:00
security mm: convert do_brk_flags() to use vma_flags_t 2026-04-05 13:53:40 -07:00
sound driver core: platform: use generic driver_override infrastructure 2026-03-17 20:30:57 +01:00
tools selftests: liveupdate: add test for double preservation 2026-04-18 00:10:49 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt mm: change to return bool for the MMU notifier's young flag check 2026-04-05 13:53:35 -07:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore MAINTAINERS: remove Alyssa Rosenzweig 2025-09-18 21:17:31 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap MAINTAINERS, mailmap: update email address for Harry Yoo 2026-04-05 13:53:36 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml
COPYING
CREDITS MAINTAINERS: remove Thomas Falcon from IBM ibmvnic 2026-03-05 07:35:45 -08:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS MAINTAINERS: update MGLRU entry to reflect current status 2026-04-18 00:10:48 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.0-rc5 2026-03-22 14:42:17 -07:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

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
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


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

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


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