[PATCH v5 4/7] docs: transhuge: document process level THP controls

From: Usama Arif
Date: Fri Aug 15 2025 - 09:57:00 EST


This includes the PR_SET_THP_DISABLE/PR_GET_THP_DISABLE pair of
prctl calls as well the newly introduced PR_THP_DISABLE_EXCEPT_ADVISED
flag for the PR_SET_THP_DISABLE prctl call.

Signed-off-by: Usama Arif <usamaarif642@xxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 36 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
index 370fba1134606..a16a04841b960 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
@@ -225,6 +225,42 @@ to "always" or "madvise"), and it'll be automatically shutdown when
PMD-sized THP is disabled (when both the per-size anon control and the
top-level control are "never")

+process THP controls
+--------------------
+
+A process can control its own THP behaviour using the ``PR_SET_THP_DISABLE``
+and ``PR_GET_THP_DISABLE`` pair of prctl(2) calls. The THP behaviour set using
+``PR_SET_THP_DISABLE`` is inherited across fork(2) and execve(2). These calls
+support the following arguments::
+
+ prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 1, 0, 0, 0):
+ This will disable THPs completely for the process, irrespective
+ of global THP controls or madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE) being used.
+
+ prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 1, PR_THP_DISABLE_EXCEPT_ADVISED, 0, 0):
+ This will disable THPs for the process except when the usage of THPs is
+ advised. Consequently, THPs will only be used when:
+ - Global THP controls are set to "always" or "madvise" and
+ madvise(..., MADV_HUGEPAGE) or madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE) is used.
+ - Global THP controls are set to "never" and madvise(..., MADV_COLLAPSE)
+ is used. This is the same behavior as if THPs would not be disabled on
+ a process level.
+ Note that MADV_COLLAPSE is currently always rejected if
+ madvise(..., MADV_NOHUGEPAGE) is set on an area.
+
+ prctl(PR_SET_THP_DISABLE, 0, 0, 0, 0):
+ This will re-enable THPs for the process, as if they were never disabled.
+ Whether THPs will actually be used depends on global THP controls and
+ madvise() calls.
+
+ prctl(PR_GET_THP_DISABLE, 0, 0, 0, 0):
+ This returns a value whose bits indicate how THP-disable is configured:
+ Bits
+ 1 0 Value Description
+ |0|0| 0 No THP-disable behaviour specified.
+ |0|1| 1 THP is entirely disabled for this process.
+ |1|1| 3 THP-except-advised mode is set for this process.
+
Khugepaged controls
-------------------

--
2.47.3