ACTION MODIFIERS(9)

💅 Action modifiers 💅

okay so this is the Kernel API Manual page for Action modifiers — literally the tiny-but-mighty glossary of GFP action modifiers, and every single detail is staying, no cap. 🎀

• __GFP_NOWARN — suppresses allocation failure reports. hush mode for allocation fails 😌
• __GFP_COMP — address compound page metadata. yes bestie, address it 💅
• __GFP_ZERO — returns a zeroed page on success. clean-slate energy, we love to see it ✨
• __GFP_ZEROTAGS — zeroes memory tags at allocation time. setting memory tags at the same time as zeroing memory (e.g., with __GFP_ZERO) has minimal additional performance impact. however, __GFP_ZEROTAGS also zeroes the tags even if memory is not getting zeroed at allocation time (e.g., with init_on_free). it’s giving “tags zeroed no matter what” 😭
• __GFP_SKIP_KASAN — makes KASAN skip unpoisoning on page allocation. used for userspace and vmalloc pages; the latter are unpoisoned by kasan_unpoison_vmalloc instead. if passed to vmalloc, kasan_unpoison_vmalloc is skipped too. for userspace pages, results in poisoning being skipped as well, see should_skip_kasan_poison for details. only effective in HW_TAGS mode. KASAN said “not today” 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• kernel file ./tools/include/linux/gfp_types.h
• gfp_t(9)
• Page mobility and placement hints(9)
• Watermark modifiers(9)
• Reclaim modifiers(9)
• Useful GFP flag combinations(9)

bestie, these are the related lore pages — go read them if you want the full kernel tea ☕

xoxo, your Action modifiers(9) bestie, signed off from ./tools/include/linux, October 2026 — source/version + date, cute and done 💖✨