Patch Posted For Formally Deprecating The SLAB Allocator

Following the recent removal of the SLOB allocator, SLAB is the latest on the chopping block. In order to push users to the SLUB allocator as the preferred solution, SLAB is now going through its deprecation and eventual removal process.

No objections were raised at the recent LSF/MM gathering for deprecating and eventually removing SLAB, so the patch was sent out this week for deprecating this memory allocator.

SUSE's Vlastimil Babka wrote on the deprecation patch:

"As discussed at LSF/MM and with no objections raised there, deprecate the SLAB allocator. Rename the user-visible option so that users with CONFIG_SLAB=y get a new prompt with explanation during make oldconfig, while make olddefconfig will just switch to SLUB.

In all defconfigs with CONFIG_SLAB=y remove the line so those also switch to SLUB. Regressions due to the switch should be reported to linux-mm and slab maintainers."

The deprecation comes with more than 137 lines removed due to dropping the CONFIG_SLAB=y enabling for many kernel configurations on different CPU architectures.

This deprecation patch will likely be submitted for the Linux 6.5 cycle.