mm/rmap: improve anon_vma_clone(), unlink_anon_vmas() comments, add asserts

Patch series "mm: clean up anon_vma implementation", v3.

The anon_vma logic is hugely confusing and, much like a bundle of wires
entangled with one another, pulling on one thread seems only to lead to
more entanglement elsewhere.

There is a mish-mash of the core implementation, how that implementation
is invoked, how helper functions are invoked and concepts such as adjacent
anon_vma merge and anon_vma object reuse.

This series tries to improve the situation somewhat.

It starts by establishing some invariants in the core anon_vma_clone() and
unlink_anon_vmas() functions, largely expressed via VM_WARN_ON_ONCE()
asserts.

These act as some form of self-documentation as to the conditions we find
ourselves in when invoking these functions.

We also add kdoc comments for anon_vma_clone() and unlink_anon_vmas().

We then update anon_vma_fork() to avoid passing a partially set up (and
thus invalid) VMA to unlink_anon_vmas() - functions which are used both
for partially set up and valid data types has historically been the source
of a lot of confusion and bugs.

We then makes use of the established known conditions to directly skip
unfaulted VMAs (rather than implicitly via an empty vma->anon_vma_chain
list).

We remove the confusing anon_vma_merge() function (we already have a
concept of anon_vma merge in that we merge anon_vma's that would otherwise
be compatible except for attributes that mprotect() could change - which
anon_vma_merge() has nothing to do with).

We make the anon_vma functions internal to mm as they do not need to be
used by any other part of the kernel, which allows for future abstraction
without concern about this.

We then reduce the time over which we hold the anon rmap lock in
anon_vma_clone(), as it turns out we can allocate anon_vma_chain objects
without holding this lock, since the objects are not yet accessible from
the rmap.

This should reduce anon_vma lock contention.

This additionally allows us to remove a confusing GFP_NOWAIT, GFP_KERNEL
allocation fallback strategy.

Finally, we explicitly indicate which operation is being performed upon
anon_vma_clone(), and separate out fork-only logic to make it very clear
that anon_vma reuse only occurs on fork.


This patch (of 9):

Add kdoc comments and describe exactly what these functions are used for
in detail, pointing out importantly that the anon_vma_clone()
!dst->anon_vma && src->anon_vma dance is ONLY for fork.

Both are confusing functions that will be refactored in a subsequent patch
but the first stage is establishing documentation and some invariants.

Add some basic CONFIG_DEBUG_VM asserts that help document expected state,
specifically:

anon_vma_clone()
- mmap write lock held.
- We do nothing if src VMA is not faulted.
- The destination VMA has no anon_vma_chain yet.
- We are always operating on the same active VMA (i.e. vma->anon_vma).
- If not forking, must operate on the same mm_struct.

unlink_anon_vmas()
- mmap lock held (write lock except when freeing page tables).
- That unfaulted VMAs are no-ops.

We are presented with a special case when anon_vma_clone() fails to
allocate memory, where we have a VMA with partially set up anon_vma state.
Since we hold the exclusive mmap write lock, and since we are cloning
from a source VMA which consequently can't also have its anon_vma state
modified, we know no anon_vma referenced can be empty.

This allows us to significantly simplify this case and just remove
anon_vma_chain objects associated with the VMA, so we add a specific
partial cleanup path for this scenario.

This also allows us to drop the hack of setting vma->anon_vma to NULL
before unlinking anon_vma state in this scenario.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/cover.1768746221.git.lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/8644e89369be0cc89d7ac57443dff9e822803c91.1768746221.git.lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Liam R. Howlett <Liam.Howlett@oracle.com>
Cc: Barry Song <v-songbaohua@oppo.com>
Cc: Chris Li <chriscli@google.com>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@oracle.com>
Cc: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@surriel.com>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>

0 files changed, 0 insertions, 0 deletions