softleaf_t(9)

🦋 softleaf_t(9) — Kernel API Manual 🦋

okay bestie, you're looking at softleaf_t(9) and honestly? it's giving "quietly iconic kernel typedef" and i'm obsessed 💅 let's get into it.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

typedef softleaf_t — describes a page table software leaf entry, abstracted away from its architecture-specific encoding. periodt.

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✨ Description ✨

so like, page table leaf entries are the ones that don't point at any descendent page tables. instead they either:

• reference a data page,
• are an empty entry (a 'none' entry, iykyk), or
• contain a non-present entry.

if the entry references another page table or a data page, then it's pertinent to hardware — meaning it literally tells the hardware how to decode the page table entry. main character energy, truly 🔥

otherwise? it's a software-defined leaf page table entry, and that's the kind this type describes. go look at leafops.h, and specifically softleaf_type, for a list of all the possible kinds of software leaf entry. no cap, it's all there 💖

a softleaf_t entry is abstracted from the hardware page table entry, so it is not architecture-specific. slay, portability 🫶

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💀 NOTE 💀

while we transition away from the confusing swp_entry_t type that used to be used for this purpose, we simply alias this type. this will be removed once the transition is complete. so yeah — enjoy it while it lasts, it's on borrowed time 😭

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🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

• Kernel file ./include/linux/mm_types.h struct folio(9)
• struct ptdesc(9)
• vm_fault_t(9)
• enum vm_fault_reason(9)
• enum fault_flag(9)

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and that's the vibe check, bestie 🧚✨ this whole thing lives in ./include/linux, dated October 2026, and it's filed under softleaf_t(9) — go forth and read your page tables with confidence, you've got this 👑💜