Subject: [PATCH v1 09/16] mm/memory: convert details->even_cows into details->skip_cows

From: "David Hildenbrand (Arm)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:08:40 +0100

The current semantics are confusing: simply because someone specifies an
empty zap_detail struct suddenly makes should_zap_cows() behave
differently. The default should be to also zap CoW'ed anonymous pages.

Really only unmap_mapping_pages() and friends want to skip zapping of
these anon folios.

So let's invert the meaning; turn the confusing "reclaim_pt" check that
overrides other properties in should_zap_cows() into a safety check.

Note that the only caller that sets reclaim_pt=true is
madvise_dontneed_single_vma(), which wants to zap any pages.

Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <[email-masked]>
---
 include/linux/mm.h |  2 +-
 mm/madvise.c       |  1 -
 mm/memory.c        | 12 ++++++------
 3 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index d3ef586ee1c0..21b67c203e62 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -2798,7 +2798,7 @@ extern void pagefault_out_of_memory(void);
  */
 struct zap_details {
 	struct folio *single_folio;	/* Locked folio to be unmapped */
-	bool even_cows;			/* Zap COWed private pages too? */
+	bool skip_cows;			/* Do not zap COWed private pages */
 	bool reclaim_pt;		/* Need reclaim page tables? */
 	zap_flags_t zap_flags;		/* Extra flags for zapping */
 };
diff --git a/mm/madvise.c b/mm/madvise.c
index 557a360f7919..b51f216934f3 100644
--- a/mm/madvise.c
+++ b/mm/madvise.c
@@ -853,7 +853,6 @@ static long madvise_dontneed_single_vma(struct madvise_behavior *madv_behavior)
 	struct madvise_behavior_range *range = &madv_behavior->range;
 	struct zap_details details = {
 		.reclaim_pt = true,
-		.even_cows = true,
 	};
 
 	zap_page_range_single_batched(
diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
index fdcd2abf29c2..7d7c24c6917c 100644
--- a/mm/memory.c
+++ b/mm/memory.c
@@ -1554,11 +1554,13 @@ copy_page_range(struct vm_area_struct *dst_vma, struct vm_area_struct *src_vma)
 static inline bool should_zap_cows(struct zap_details *details)
 {
 	/* By default, zap all pages */
-	if (!details || details->reclaim_pt)
+	if (!details)
 		return true;
 
+	VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(details->skip_cows && details->reclaim_pt);
+
 	/* Or, we zap COWed pages only if the caller wants to */
-	return details->even_cows;
+	return !details->skip_cows;
 }
 
 /* Decides whether we should zap this folio with the folio pointer specified */
@@ -2149,8 +2151,6 @@ void unmap_vmas(struct mmu_gather *tlb, struct unmap_desc *unmap)
 	struct mmu_notifier_range range;
 	struct zap_details details = {
 		.zap_flags = ZAP_FLAG_DROP_MARKER | ZAP_FLAG_UNMAP,
-		/* Careful - we need to zap private pages too! */
-		.even_cows = true,
 	};
 
 	vma = unmap->first;
@@ -4282,7 +4282,7 @@ void unmap_mapping_folio(struct folio *folio)
 	first_index = folio->index;
 	last_index = folio_next_index(folio) - 1;
 
-	details.even_cows = false;
+	details.skip_cows = true;
 	details.single_folio = folio;
 	details.zap_flags = ZAP_FLAG_DROP_MARKER;
 
@@ -4312,7 +4312,7 @@ void unmap_mapping_pages(struct address_space *mapping, pgoff_t start,
 	pgoff_t	first_index = start;
 	pgoff_t	last_index = start + nr - 1;
 
-	details.even_cows = even_cows;
+	details.skip_cows = !even_cows;
 	if (last_index < first_index)
 		last_index = ULONG_MAX;
 
-- 
2.43.0