mm/slab: move and adjust kernel-doc for kmem_cache_alloc

Alexander reports an issue with the kmem_cache_alloc() comment in
mm/slab.c:

> The current comment mentioned that the flags only matters if the
> cache has no available objects. It's different for the __GFP_ZERO
> flag which will ensure that the returned object is always zeroed
> in any case.

> I have the feeling I run into this question already two times if
> the user need to zero the object or not, but the user does not need
> to zero the object afterwards. However another use of __GFP_ZERO
> and only zero the object if the cache has no available objects would
> also make no sense.

and suggests thus mentioning __GFP_ZERO as the exception. But on closer
inspection, the part about flags being only relevant if cache has no
available objects is misleading. The slab user has no reliable way to
determine if there are available objects, and e.g. the might_sleep()
debug check can be performed even if objects are available, so passing
correct flags given the allocation context always matters.

Thus remove that sentence completely, and while at it, move the comment
to from SLAB-specific mm/slab.c to the common include/linux/slab.h
The comment otherwise refers flags description for kmalloc(), so add
__GFP_ZERO comment there and remove a very misleading GFP_HIGHUSER
(not applicable to slab) description from there. Mention kzalloc() and
kmem_cache_zalloc() shortcuts.

Reported-by: Alexander Aring <aahringo@redhat.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20221011145413.8025-1-aahringo@redhat.com/
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>

1 files changed, 17 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
index 90877fcde70b..1bf631f29cd2 100644
--- a/include/linux/slab.h
+++ b/include/linux/slab.h
@@ -441,7 +441,18 @@ static_assert(PAGE_SHIFT <= 20);
 #endif /* !CONFIG_SLOB */
 
 void *__kmalloc(size_t size, gfp_t flags) __assume_kmalloc_alignment __alloc_size(1);
-void *kmem_cache_alloc(struct kmem_cache *s, gfp_t flags) __assume_slab_alignment __malloc;
+
+/**
+ * kmem_cache_alloc - Allocate an object
+ * @cachep: The cache to allocate from.
+ * @flags: See kmalloc().
+ *
+ * Allocate an object from this cache.
+ * See kmem_cache_zalloc() for a shortcut of adding __GFP_ZERO to flags.
+ *
+ * Return: pointer to the new object or %NULL in case of error
+ */
+void *kmem_cache_alloc(struct kmem_cache *cachep, gfp_t flags) __assume_slab_alignment __malloc;
 void *kmem_cache_alloc_lru(struct kmem_cache *s, struct list_lru *lru,
 			   gfp_t gfpflags) __assume_slab_alignment __malloc;
 void kmem_cache_free(struct kmem_cache *s, void *objp);
@@ -506,9 +517,9 @@ void *kmalloc_large_node(size_t size, gfp_t flags, int node) __assume_page_align
 							     __alloc_size(1);
 
 /**
- * kmalloc - allocate memory
+ * kmalloc - allocate kernel memory
  * @size: how many bytes of memory are required.
- * @flags: the type of memory to allocate.
+ * @flags: describe the allocation context
  *
  * kmalloc is the normal method of allocating memory
  * for objects smaller than page size in the kernel.
@@ -535,12 +546,12 @@ void *kmalloc_large_node(size_t size, gfp_t flags, int node) __assume_page_align
  * %GFP_ATOMIC
  *	Allocation will not sleep.  May use emergency pools.
  *
- * %GFP_HIGHUSER
- *	Allocate memory from high memory on behalf of user.
- *
  * Also it is possible to set different flags by OR'ing
  * in one or more of the following additional @flags:
  *
+ * %__GFP_ZERO
+ *	Zero the allocated memory before returning. Also see kzalloc().
+ *
  * %__GFP_HIGH
  *	This allocation has high priority and may use emergency pools.
  *