[PATCH] initramfs: Reduce hardlink hash allocation sizes
From: Thorsten Blum
Date: Sat Sep 19 2026 - 17:44:03 EST
Each hardlink hash entry reserves N_ALIGN(PATH_MAX) bytes for its name.
This makes every allocation larger than 4 KiB, placing it in the
kmalloc-8k bucket even for short names.
Use a flexible array with the already validated cpio name_len to reduce
allocation sizes.
Also use const for the read-only name parameter.
Signed-off-by: Thorsten Blum <blum@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Tested with initramfs KUnit suite: all 9 tests pass.
---
init/initramfs.c | 11 ++++++-----
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/init/initramfs.c b/init/initramfs.c
index 3cee8b50ad82..ebddde9c8f0d 100644
--- a/init/initramfs.c
+++ b/init/initramfs.c
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ static __initdata struct hash {
int ino, minor, major;
umode_t mode;
struct hash *next;
- char name[N_ALIGN(PATH_MAX)];
+ char name[];
} *head[32];
static __initdata bool hardlink_seen;
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ static inline int hash(int major, int minor, int ino)
}
static char __init *find_link(int major, int minor, int ino,
- umode_t mode, char *name)
+ umode_t mode, const char *name, size_t nlen)
{
struct hash **p, *q;
for (p = head + hash(major, minor, ino); *p; p = &(*p)->next) {
@@ -106,14 +106,15 @@ static char __init *find_link(int major, int minor, int ino,
continue;
return (*p)->name;
}
- q = kmalloc_obj(struct hash);
+
+ q = kmalloc_flex(struct hash, name, nlen);
if (!q)
panic_show_mem("can't allocate link hash entry");
q->major = major;
q->minor = minor;
q->ino = ino;
q->mode = mode;
- strscpy(q->name, name);
+ strscpy(q->name, name, nlen);
q->next = NULL;
*p = q;
hardlink_seen = true;
@@ -355,7 +356,7 @@ static void __init clean_path(char *path, umode_t fmode)
static int __init maybe_link(void)
{
if (nlink >= 2) {
- char *old = find_link(major, minor, ino, mode, collected);
+ char *old = find_link(major, minor, ino, mode, collected, name_len);
if (old) {
clean_path(collected, 0);
return (init_link(old, collected) < 0) ? -1 : 1;