Re: [PATCH v1 2/2] mm: factor out next_present_section_nr()

[David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>]

On 14.01.20 16:52, Kirill A. Shutemov wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 14, 2020 at 11:49:19AM +0100, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>> memmap_init_zone() is called for a physical memory region: pfn + size
>> (nr_pages)
>>
>> The highest possible PFN you can have is "-1(unsigned long) >>
>> PFN_SHIFT". So even if you would want to add the very last section, the
>> PFN would still be smaller than -1UL << PFN_SECTION_SHIFT.
> 
> PFN_SHIFT? I guess you mean PAGE_SHIFT.

Yes :)

> 
> Of course PFN can be more than -1UL >> PAGE_SHIFT. Like on 32-bit x86 with
> PAE it is ((1ULL << 36) - 1) >> PAGE_SHIFT. That's the whole reason for
> PAE.

You are right about PAE, but I think you agree that is is a special case.

> 
> The highest possible PFN must fit into phys_addr_t when shifted left by
> PAGE_SHIFT and must fit into unsigned long. It's can be -1UL if
> phys_addr_t is 64-bit.
> 

Right, and for 32bit, that would mean (assuming something like 12bit
PAGE_SHIFT) if you have -1 (0xffffffff) that the biggest possible
address is 0xfffffffffff (44bit). In that case, the existing code would
already break because "end_pfn" (is actually +1, pointing after the one
to initialize), would overflow to 0 and you would have an endless loop
in memmap_init_zone().

Now, after thischange you not only get an endless loop when trying to
init the very last PFN, but when trying to init a PFN in the very last
section (section_nr= -1 - e.g., the last 128MB).

I don't think there is any sane use case where you initialize something
partially in the last section that is possible with any hardware address
extension mechanism.

-- 
Thanks,

David / dhildenb