support: Skip malloc hugetlb={1, 2} variants when kernel cannot honor them

Message ID 20260521180012.578058-1-adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org (mailing list archive)
State Superseded
Delegated to: DJ Delorie
Headers
Series support: Skip malloc hugetlb={1, 2} variants when kernel cannot honor them |

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Commit Message

Adhemerval Zanella Netto May 21, 2026, 6 p.m. UTC
  The malloc test variants run with GLIBC_TUNABLES=glibc.malloc.hugetlb=1
exercise transparent huge pages via MADV_HUGEPAGE, which is only
meaningful when /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled is set to
'madvise' ('always' makes the madvise redundant and 'never' makes it
ineffective).  The hugetlb=2 variants rely on MAP_HUGETLB, which
requires a positive /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages.  On systems that do not
satisfy these prerequisites - including any non-Linux target - those
runs only consume CPU time in this case.

Add support/support_check_hugetlb.{c,h} exposing:

  - support_thp_is_madvise: true iff THP is in 'madvise' mode;
  - support_hugepages_reserved: true iff nr_hugepages > 0;
  - support_check_malloc_hugetlb: inspects GLIBC_TUNABLES and calls
    FAIL_UNSUPPORTED when the requested hugetlb mode cannot be honored.

Gate the check at compile time so only the variant binaries pay for
it.
---
 Rules                           |  6 +-
 malloc/Makefile                 | 13 +++++
 support/Makefile                |  1 +
 support/support_check_hugetlb.c | 99 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 support/support_check_hugetlb.h | 48 ++++++++++++++++
 support/test-driver.c           | 10 ++++
 6 files changed, 175 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 support/support_check_hugetlb.c
 create mode 100644 support/support_check_hugetlb.h
  

Comments

DJ Delorie May 26, 2026, 9:52 p.m. UTC | #1
Adhemerval Zanella <adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org> writes:
> diff --git a/malloc/Makefile b/malloc/Makefile
> index f95bca7f8fa..72aa77af206 100644
> --- a/malloc/Makefile
> +++ b/malloc/Makefile
> @@ -351,6 +351,19 @@ $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: CPPFLAGS += -DTEST_IN_THREAD=TEST_THREAD_WORKER
>  $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: %.c $(before-compile)
>  	$(compile-command.c)
>  
> +# Compile the hugetlb={1,2} test variants from their base sources with
> +# -DTEST_HUGETLB so support/test-driver.c gates them on kernel support.

We really should have called that test-driver.h or something; at first
glance I thought "that can't work" but the .c file is always #included.
Sigh.

> diff --git a/support/support_check_hugetlb.c b/support/support_check_hugetlb.c

> +bool
> +support_thp_is_madvise (void)
> +{
> +#ifdef __linux__

There's nothing in here that is linux-specific at compile time, might as
well leave it unconditional.

> +  FILE *fp = fopen ("/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled", "r");
> +  if (fp == NULL)
> +    return false;
> +  char line[256];
> +  bool madvise = false;
> +  if (fgets (line, sizeof (line), fp) != NULL)

Could use fread instead; the whole file fits in the buffer and fread
allows you to avoid buffer overflow.

> +bool
> +support_hugepages_reserved (void)
> +{
> +#ifdef __linux__

Same here, nothing in this is Linux-specific at compile time.

> +/* Returns true if TUNABLES (a GLIBC_TUNABLES-style colon-separated list)
> +   contains an entry of the form NAME=VALUE.  */

Why can't you just use tunable_get() ?  That would avoid complex parsing
code and support future (i.e. current ;) efforts to pull in tunables
from other sources than the environment variable.  Yes, I know we expect
this from the Makefile, but still, tunable_get() alrady does what you
want.

> +static bool
> +tunable_equals (const char *tunables, const char *name, const char *value)

> +void
> +support_check_malloc_hugetlb (void)
> +{
  
Adhemerval Zanella Netto May 26, 2026, 10:43 p.m. UTC | #2
On 26/05/26 18:52, DJ Delorie wrote:
> Adhemerval Zanella <adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org> writes:
>> diff --git a/malloc/Makefile b/malloc/Makefile
>> index f95bca7f8fa..72aa77af206 100644
>> --- a/malloc/Makefile
>> +++ b/malloc/Makefile
>> @@ -351,6 +351,19 @@ $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: CPPFLAGS += -DTEST_IN_THREAD=TEST_THREAD_WORKER
>>  $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: %.c $(before-compile)
>>  	$(compile-command.c)
>>  
>> +# Compile the hugetlb={1,2} test variants from their base sources with
>> +# -DTEST_HUGETLB so support/test-driver.c gates them on kernel support.
> 
> We really should have called that test-driver.h or something; at first
> glance I thought "that can't work" but the .c file is always #included.
> Sigh.
> 
>> diff --git a/support/support_check_hugetlb.c b/support/support_check_hugetlb.c
> 
>> +bool
>> +support_thp_is_madvise (void)
>> +{
>> +#ifdef __linux__
> 
> There's nothing in here that is linux-specific at compile time, might as
> well leave it unconditional.

Alright, although the sysfs is really a Linux interface.

> 
>> +  FILE *fp = fopen ("/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled", "r");
>> +  if (fp == NULL)
>> +    return false;
>> +  char line[256];
>> +  bool madvise = false;
>> +  if (fgets (line, sizeof (line), fp) != NULL)
> 
> Could use fread instead; the whole file fits in the buffer and fread
> allows you to avoid buffer overflow.

Ack, I will used something similar to __get_thp_mode.

> 
>> +bool
>> +support_hugepages_reserved (void)
>> +{
>> +#ifdef __linux__
> 
> Same here, nothing in this is Linux-specific at compile time.
> 
>> +/* Returns true if TUNABLES (a GLIBC_TUNABLES-style colon-separated list)
>> +   contains an entry of the form NAME=VALUE.  */
> 
> Why can't you just use tunable_get() ?  That would avoid complex parsing
> code and support future (i.e. current ;) efforts to pull in tunables
> from other sources than the environment variable.  Yes, I know we expect
> this from the Makefile, but still, tunable_get() alrady does what you
> want.

I tried to avoid using GLIBC_PRIVATE and other private interfaces on libsupport,
but TUNABLE_GET_FULL does simplify things.

> 
>> +static bool
>> +tunable_equals (const char *tunables, const char *name, const char *value)
> 
>> +void
>> +support_check_malloc_hugetlb (void)
>> +{
>
  
DJ Delorie May 26, 2026, 11:26 p.m. UTC | #3
Adhemerval Zanella Netto <adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org> writes:
>> There's nothing in here that is linux-specific at compile time, might as
>> well leave it unconditional.
>
> Alright, although the sysfs is really a Linux interface.

Sure, but it's a file, and it just doesn't exist elsewhere, so fopen()
is sufficient to "test" for it.  And there's no reason why non-Linux
devs couldn't just make a plain file there to test their
contributions...
  

Patch

diff --git a/Rules b/Rules
index 64a337b2656..385246f07df 100644
--- a/Rules
+++ b/Rules
@@ -288,7 +288,8 @@  $(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-check-tests)): %-malloc-check: %.o \
 endif
 
 ifneq "$(strip $(binaries-malloc-hugetlb1-tests))" ""
-$(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-hugetlb1-tests)): %-malloc-hugetlb1: %.o \
+$(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-hugetlb1-tests)): \
+%-malloc-hugetlb1: %-malloc-hugetlb1.o \
   $(link-extra-libs-tests) \
   $(sort $(filter $(common-objpfx)lib%,$(link-libc))) \
   $(addprefix $(csu-objpfx),start.o) $(+preinit) $(+postinit)
@@ -296,7 +297,8 @@  $(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-hugetlb1-tests)): %-malloc-hugetlb1: %.o
 endif
 
 ifneq "$(strip $(binaries-malloc-hugetlb2-tests))" ""
-$(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-hugetlb2-tests)): %-malloc-hugetlb2: %.o \
+$(addprefix $(objpfx),$(binaries-malloc-hugetlb2-tests)): \
+%-malloc-hugetlb2: %-malloc-hugetlb2.o \
   $(link-extra-libs-tests) \
   $(sort $(filter $(common-objpfx)lib%,$(link-libc))) \
   $(addprefix $(csu-objpfx),start.o) $(+preinit) $(+postinit)
diff --git a/malloc/Makefile b/malloc/Makefile
index f95bca7f8fa..72aa77af206 100644
--- a/malloc/Makefile
+++ b/malloc/Makefile
@@ -351,6 +351,19 @@  $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: CPPFLAGS += -DTEST_IN_THREAD=TEST_THREAD_WORKER
 $(objpfx)%-threaded-worker.o: %.c $(before-compile)
 	$(compile-command.c)
 
+# Compile the hugetlb={1,2} test variants from their base sources with
+# -DTEST_HUGETLB so support/test-driver.c gates them on kernel support.
+$(foreach t,$(tests-malloc-hugetlb1),\
+  $(eval libof-$(t)-malloc-hugetlb1 := testsuite))
+$(foreach t,$(tests-malloc-hugetlb2),\
+  $(eval libof-$(t)-malloc-hugetlb2 := testsuite))
+$(objpfx)%-malloc-hugetlb1.o: CPPFLAGS += -DTEST_HUGETLB
+$(objpfx)%-malloc-hugetlb1.o: %.c $(before-compile)
+	$(compile-command.c)
+$(objpfx)%-malloc-hugetlb2.o: CPPFLAGS += -DTEST_HUGETLB
+$(objpfx)%-malloc-hugetlb2.o: %.c $(before-compile)
+	$(compile-command.c)
+
 # Include the cleanup handler.
 aux := set-freeres thread-freeres
 
diff --git a/support/Makefile b/support/Makefile
index 3f19a98bdc4..87eeb8199f6 100644
--- a/support/Makefile
+++ b/support/Makefile
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@  libsupport-routines = \
   support_can_chroot \
   support_capture_subprocess \
   support_capture_subprocess_check \
+  support_check_hugetlb \
   support_check_nss \
   support_check_stat_fd \
   support_check_stat_path \
diff --git a/support/support_check_hugetlb.c b/support/support_check_hugetlb.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ef466a3124d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/support_check_hugetlb.c
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ 
+/* Runtime detection of huge-page support for malloc tests.
+   Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   This file is part of the GNU C Library.
+
+   The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+   The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
+   <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#include <support/support_check_hugetlb.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <support/check.h>
+
+bool
+support_thp_is_madvise (void)
+{
+#ifdef __linux__
+  FILE *fp = fopen ("/sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled", "r");
+  if (fp == NULL)
+    return false;
+  char line[256];
+  bool madvise = false;
+  if (fgets (line, sizeof (line), fp) != NULL)
+    madvise = strstr (line, "[madvise]") != NULL;
+  fclose (fp);
+  return madvise;
+#else
+  return false;
+#endif
+}
+
+bool
+support_hugepages_reserved (void)
+{
+#ifdef __linux__
+  FILE *fp = fopen ("/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages", "r");
+  if (fp == NULL)
+    return false;
+  unsigned long n = 0;
+  bool any = fscanf (fp, "%lu", &n) == 1 && n > 0;
+  fclose (fp);
+  return any;
+#else
+  return false;
+#endif
+}
+
+/* Returns true if TUNABLES (a GLIBC_TUNABLES-style colon-separated list)
+   contains an entry of the form NAME=VALUE.  */
+static bool
+tunable_equals (const char *tunables, const char *name, const char *value)
+{
+  size_t name_len = strlen (name);
+  size_t value_len = strlen (value);
+  const char *p = tunables;
+  while (*p != '\0')
+    {
+      if (strncmp (p, name, name_len) == 0
+          && p[name_len] == '='
+          && strncmp (p + name_len + 1, value, value_len) == 0
+          && (p[name_len + 1 + value_len] == '\0'
+              || p[name_len + 1 + value_len] == ':'))
+        return true;
+      const char *colon = strchr (p, ':');
+      if (colon == NULL)
+        break;
+      p = colon + 1;
+    }
+  return false;
+}
+
+void
+support_check_malloc_hugetlb (void)
+{
+  const char *tunables = getenv ("GLIBC_TUNABLES");
+  if (tunables == NULL)
+    return;
+  if (tunable_equals (tunables, "glibc.malloc.hugetlb", "1")
+      && !support_thp_is_madvise ())
+    FAIL_UNSUPPORTED ("glibc.malloc.hugetlb=1 requires"
+                      " /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled"
+                      " = madvise");
+  if (tunable_equals (tunables, "glibc.malloc.hugetlb", "2")
+      && !support_hugepages_reserved ())
+    FAIL_UNSUPPORTED ("glibc.malloc.hugetlb=2 requires"
+                      " /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages > 0");
+}
diff --git a/support/support_check_hugetlb.h b/support/support_check_hugetlb.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2c5f5cb80cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/support_check_hugetlb.h
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ 
+/* Runtime detection of huge-page support for malloc tests.
+   Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   This file is part of the GNU C Library.
+
+   The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+   The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
+   <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
+
+#ifndef SUPPORT_SUPPORT_CHECK_HUGETLB_H
+#define SUPPORT_SUPPORT_CHECK_HUGETLB_H
+
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <sys/cdefs.h>
+
+__BEGIN_DECLS
+
+/* Returns true if /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled selects
+   `madvise' as the active mode (i.e. MADV_HUGEPAGE is honored, but
+   THP is not applied automatically).  Returns false on any other
+   configuration, on read failure, or on non-Linux systems.  */
+bool support_thp_is_madvise (void);
+
+/* Returns true if /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages reports a strictly
+   positive number of pre-allocated huge pages (the prerequisite for
+   MAP_HUGETLB allocations).  Returns false on read failure or on
+   non-Linux systems.  */
+bool support_hugepages_reserved (void);
+
+/* If the current process is running with GLIBC_TUNABLES requesting
+   glibc.malloc.hugetlb=1 or glibc.malloc.hugetlb=2, verifies that the
+   kernel can actually satisfy the requested mode.  If not, terminates
+   the test with EXIT_UNSUPPORTED.  No-op when no such tunable is set,
+   so it is safe to call unconditionally.  */
+void support_check_malloc_hugetlb (void);
+
+__END_DECLS
+
+#endif /* SUPPORT_SUPPORT_CHECK_HUGETLB_H */
diff --git a/support/test-driver.c b/support/test-driver.c
index 14555846671..a72c41e64c7 100644
--- a/support/test-driver.c
+++ b/support/test-driver.c
@@ -103,9 +103,19 @@ 
 
 #include <string.h>
 
+#ifdef TEST_HUGETLB
+# include <support/support_check_hugetlb.h>
+#endif
+
 int
 main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
+#ifdef TEST_HUGETLB
+  /* For malloc hugetlb=1/=2 test variants: skip the test (UNSUPPORTED)
+     when the kernel cannot honor the requested mode.  */
+  support_check_malloc_hugetlb ();
+#endif
+
   struct test_config test_config;
   memset (&test_config, 0, sizeof (test_config));