Re: [PATCH RFC 07/12] mm/slab: replace slab.stride with obj_exts_in_object

On Wed, Jul 15, 2026 at 3:11 AM Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> The stride field is used to convert object index to an slabobj_ext so
> both compact arrays (kmalloc() or in-slab-leftover) and spread
> in-object-padding obj_ext layouts are supported.
>
> In practice thus the stride is always sizeof(slabobj_ext) or s->size.
>
> This simplifies the calculations, but with the upcoming slabobj_ext
> handling changes, it will be easier to stop storing the stride and
> instead just have a flag whether obj_ext is in the object padding.
> obj_exts_in_object() can then rely on this flag and slab_obj_ext()
> can use that to determine the stride.
>
> No functional change intended. Performance impact TBD, hopefully
> in the noise.
>
> Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <[email protected]>

Reviewed-by: Suren Baghdasaryan <[email protected]>

> ---
>  mm/slab.h | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------
>  mm/slub.c | 42 ++++++++++++++++--------------------------
>  2 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 45 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/slab.h b/mm/slab.h
> index e3f8e42070f1..3ad9777ad600 100644
> --- a/mm/slab.h
> +++ b/mm/slab.h
> @@ -81,10 +81,10 @@ struct freelist_counters {
>  #ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
>                                         /*
>                                          * Some optimizations use free bits in 'counters' field
> -                                        * to save memory. In case ->stride field is not available,
> +                                        * to save memory. If these free bits are not available,
>                                          * such optimizations are disabled.
>                                          */
> -                                       unsigned int stride;
> +                                       unsigned obj_exts_in_object:1;
>  #endif
>                                 };
>                         };
> @@ -617,22 +617,20 @@ static inline void put_slab_obj_exts(unsigned long obj_exts)
>  }
>
>  #ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
> -static inline void slab_set_stride(struct slab *slab, unsigned int stride)
> +static inline bool obj_exts_in_object(struct slab *slab)
>  {
> -       slab->stride = stride;
> -}
> -static inline unsigned int slab_get_stride(struct slab *slab)
> -{
> -       return slab->stride;
> +       /*
> +        * Note we cannot rely on the SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ flag here and need to
> +        * check the per-slab bit. A cache can have SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ set, but
> +        * allocations within_slab_leftover are preferred. And those may be
> +        * possible or not depending on the particular slab's size.
> +        */
> +       return slab->obj_exts_in_object;
>  }
>  #else
> -static inline void slab_set_stride(struct slab *slab, unsigned int stride)
> +static inline bool obj_exts_in_object(struct slab *slab)
>  {
> -       VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(stride != sizeof(struct slabobj_ext));
> -}
> -static inline unsigned int slab_get_stride(struct slab *slab)
> -{
> -       return sizeof(struct slabobj_ext);
> +       return false;
>  }
>  #endif
>
> @@ -656,8 +654,14 @@ slab_obj_ext(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab, unsigned long obj_exts,
>         VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(obj_exts != slab_obj_exts(slab));
>
>         index = obj_to_index(s, slab, obj);
> -       obj_ext = (struct slabobj_ext *)(obj_exts +
> -                                        slab_get_stride(slab) * index);
> +
> +       if (!obj_exts_in_object(slab)) {
> +               obj_ext = ((struct slabobj_ext *)obj_exts) + index;
> +       } else {
> +               unsigned int stride = s->size;
> +               obj_ext = (struct slabobj_ext *)(obj_exts + index * stride);
> +       }
> +
>         return kasan_reset_tag(obj_ext);
>  }
>
> @@ -693,9 +697,10 @@ slab_obj_ext(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab, unsigned long obj_exts,
>         return NULL;
>  }
>
> -static inline void slab_set_stride(struct slab *slab, unsigned int stride) { }
> -static inline unsigned int slab_get_stride(struct slab *slab) { return 0; }
> -
> +static inline bool obj_exts_in_object(struct slab *slab)
> +{
> +       return false;
> +}
>
>  #endif /* CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT */
>
> diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
> index 2bfcabc4c51a..98a14e5842a2 100644
> --- a/mm/slub.c
> +++ b/mm/slub.c
> @@ -870,18 +870,6 @@ static inline bool obj_exts_in_slab(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
>  #endif
>
>  #if defined(CONFIG_SLAB_OBJ_EXT) && defined(CONFIG_64BIT)
> -static bool obj_exts_in_object(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
> -{
> -       /*
> -        * Note we cannot rely on the SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ flag here and need to
> -        * check the stride. A cache can have SLAB_OBJ_EXT_IN_OBJ set, but
> -        * allocations within_slab_leftover are preferred. And those may be
> -        * possible or not depending on the particular slab's size.
> -        */
> -       return obj_exts_in_slab(s, slab) &&
> -              (slab_get_stride(slab) == s->size);
> -}
> -
>  static unsigned int obj_exts_offset_in_object(struct kmem_cache *s)
>  {
>         unsigned int offset = get_info_end(s);
> @@ -896,16 +884,20 @@ static unsigned int obj_exts_offset_in_object(struct kmem_cache *s)
>
>         return offset;
>  }
> -#else
> -static inline bool obj_exts_in_object(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
> +
> +static inline void slab_set_obj_exts_in_object(struct slab *slab)
>  {
> -       return false;
> +       slab->obj_exts_in_object = 1;
>  }
> -
> +#else
>  static inline unsigned int obj_exts_offset_in_object(struct kmem_cache *s)
>  {
>         return 0;
>  }
> +
> +static inline void slab_set_obj_exts_in_object(struct slab *slab)
> +{
> +}
>  #endif
>
>  #ifdef CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG
> @@ -1206,7 +1198,7 @@ static void print_trailer(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab, u8 *p)
>
>         off += kasan_metadata_size(s, false);
>
> -       if (obj_exts_in_object(s, slab))
> +       if (obj_exts_in_object(slab))
>                 off += sizeof(struct slabobj_ext);
>
>         if (off != size_from_object(s))
> @@ -1411,7 +1403,7 @@ static int check_pad_bytes(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab, u8 *p)
>
>         off += kasan_metadata_size(s, false);
>
> -       if (obj_exts_in_object(s, slab))
> +       if (obj_exts_in_object(slab))
>                 off += sizeof(struct slabobj_ext);
>
>         if (size_from_object(s) == off)
> @@ -1439,7 +1431,7 @@ slab_pad_check(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
>         length = slab_size(slab);
>         end = start + length;
>
> -       if (obj_exts_in_slab(s, slab) && !obj_exts_in_object(s, slab)) {
> +       if (obj_exts_in_slab(s, slab) && !obj_exts_in_object(slab)) {
>                 remainder = length;
>                 remainder -= obj_exts_offset_in_slab(s, slab);
>                 remainder -= obj_exts_size_in_slab(slab);
> @@ -2253,9 +2245,6 @@ static void alloc_slab_obj_exts_early(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
>         void *addr;
>         unsigned long obj_exts;
>
> -       /* Initialize stride early to avoid memory ordering issues */
> -       slab_set_stride(slab, sizeof(struct slabobj_ext));
> -
>         if (!need_slab_obj_exts(s))
>                 return;
>
> @@ -2289,7 +2278,7 @@ static void alloc_slab_obj_exts_early(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab)
>                 obj_exts |= MEMCG_DATA_OBJEXTS;
>  #endif
>                 slab->obj_exts = obj_exts;
> -               slab_set_stride(slab, s->size);
> +               slab_set_obj_exts_in_object(slab);
>         }
>  }
>
> @@ -3402,9 +3391,10 @@ static struct slab *allocate_slab(struct kmem_cache *s, gfp_t flags,
>                 stat(s, ORDER_FALLBACK);
>         }
>
> +       /* Initializes frozen, inuse, and any extra 64bit-only flags */
> +       slab->counters = 0;
> +
>         slab->objects = oo_objects(oo);
> -       slab->inuse = 0;
> -       slab->frozen = 0;
>
>         slab->slab_cache = s;
>
> @@ -6537,7 +6527,7 @@ static inline size_t slab_ksize(struct slab *slab)
>          */
>         if (s->flags & (SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU | SLAB_STORE_USER))
>                 return s->inuse;
> -       else if (obj_exts_in_object(s, slab))
> +       else if (obj_exts_in_object(slab))
>                 return s->inuse;
>         /*
>          * Else we can use all the padding etc for the allocation
>
> --
> 2.55.0
>