grab_cache_page_nowait(9)

💖 grab_cache_page_nowait(9) 💖

okay so this is a page straight out of the Kernel API Manual and honestly? she's a baddie. her whole thing is grabbing you a locked page at an index in a cache and she does not wait around for anybody. periodt. ✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

struct page * grab_cache_page_nowait (struct address_space *mapping ,
pgoff_t index );

like literally that's the whole signature bestie, no cap 🫶

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• mapping — the target address_space. that's the cache she's gonna go shopping in 🛍️
• index — the page index, aka where in that cache your fave page lives 🔍

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

bestie. listen. this function returns a locked page at the given index in the given cache, and it'll create it if it needs to — but here's the iconique part: it does not wait if the page is locked, and it does not wait to reclaim memory. not me showing up, not getting what I want, and leaving 😭💅

it's built for speculative data generators — the kind where, if the page couldn't be grabbed, the data can just be regenerated. no drama, no hard feelings, we move. 🔥

the way this is safe to call while you're holding the lock for another page?? main character energy fr fr 👑

also lowkey important: it clears __GFP_FS when allocating the page so you don't recurse back into the fs and deadlock against the caller's locked page 💀 like that's the whole reason, don't skip it.

ngl the "don't wait" part is the whole vibe — if you need waiting, this is not your girl 🙈

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

she's got a whole friend group and they're all in the Kernel file ./include/linux/pagemap.h — go say hi 🦋

• filemap_set_wb_err(9)
• filemap_check_wb_err(9)
• filemap_sample_wb_err(9)
• file_sample_sb_err(9)
• mapping_set_error(9)
• mapping_set_large_folios(9)
• mapping_align_index(9)
• mapping_pmd_folio_support(9)
• folio_flush_mapping(9)
• folio_inode(9)
• folio_attach_private(9)
• folio_change_private(9)
• folio_detach_private(9)
• fgf_t(9)
• fgf_set_order(9)
• write_begin_get_folio(9)
• filemap_get_folio(9)
• filemap_lock_folio(9)
• filemap_grab_folio(9)
• find_get_page(9)
• find_lock_page(9)
• find_or_create_page(9)
• folio_next_index(9)
• folio_next_pos(9)
• folio_file_page(9)
• folio_contains(9)
• page_pgoff(9)
• folio_pos(9)
• linear_page_delta(9)
• linear_page_index(9)
• linear_anon_page_index(9)
• folio_trylock(9)
• folio_lock(9)
• lock_page(9)
• folio_lock_killable(9)
• filemap_range_needs_writeback(9)
• struct readahead_control(9)
• page_cache_sync_readahead(9)
• page_cache_async_readahead(9)
• readahead_folio(9)
• readahead_pos(9)
• readahead_length(9)
• readahead_index(9)
• readahead_count(9)
• readahead_batch_length(9)
• folio_mkwrite_check_truncate(9)
• i_blocks_per_folio(9)

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mwah 💋 this page shipped from ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and she ate, no crumbs. go grab a page (or don't wait for one) 🍓🧚