Switch to 4K page size for production readiness

Remove the 16K page override from the kernel patch, preserving
upstream Talos's default 4K pages. RPi5 hardware works correctly
with 4K pages — the RPi Foundation's 16K default is a TLB
performance optimization (~5%), not a hardware requirement.

Benefits:
- Correct memory accounting (4x less overhead per page)
- Full software compatibility (jemalloc, Longhorn, F2FS, etc.)
- No OOM surprises on control-plane nodes
- Aligned with upstream Talos kernel config

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Mathias Beaulieu-Duncan 2026-02-13 18:28:22 -05:00
parent 8178ba195e
commit b1eb322d7b
2 changed files with 2 additions and 26 deletions

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@ -59,8 +59,7 @@ talosctl upgrade --image docker.io/svrnty/talos-rpi5:v1.12.3-k6.12.47-2
### What's included ### What's included
- RPi downstream kernel with CM5/RP1 support - RPi downstream kernel with CM5/RP1 support (4K page size, aligned with upstream Talos)
- 16K page size (RPi Foundation default — see [known issues](#known-issues) for implications)
- Overclock: 2.6GHz (`arm_freq=2600`, `over_voltage_delta=50000`, `arm_boost=1`) - Overclock: 2.6GHz (`arm_freq=2600`, `over_voltage_delta=50000`, `arm_boost=1`)
- Extensions: `iscsi-tools`, `util-linux-tools` - Extensions: `iscsi-tools`, `util-linux-tools`
@ -78,18 +77,6 @@ The RPi5/CM5 EFI firmware does not support runtime EFI variable writes, which th
*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/21" target="_blank">talos-builder#21</a>* *Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/21" target="_blank">talos-builder#21</a>*
### 16K memory pages
The RPi downstream kernel defaults to 16K page size instead of upstream Talos's 4K. This means:
- **Higher per-page memory overhead** — workloads that allocate many small buffers (e.g. Longhorn v2 data engine) consume significantly more RAM
- **Potential OOM on control-plane nodes** — systems running etcd + kube-apiserver + workloads may hit memory pressure, especially on 4GB/8GB boards
- **Incompatibility with some software** that assumes 4K pages
We plan to switch to 4K pages for production readiness (see [Roadmap](#roadmap)).
*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/3" target="_blank">talos-builder#3</a>, <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/11" target="_blank">talos-builder#11</a>*
### No serial console output after boot ### No serial console output after boot
Serial output goes silent after the EFI stub decompresses the kernel and exits boot services. This affects headless debugging on CM5 boards where serial is the primary console. Serial output goes silent after the EFI stub decompresses the kernel and exits boot services. This affects headless debugging on CM5 boards where serial is the primary console.
@ -106,7 +93,7 @@ Talos ignores the `machine.install.disk` config field on SBC platforms. You **mu
This project targets production-ready Talos clusters on RPi5/CM5 hardware. Key milestones: This project targets production-ready Talos clusters on RPi5/CM5 hardware. Key milestones:
- [ ] **Switch to 4K page size** — Align with upstream Talos kernel config to reduce memory overhead and improve workload compatibility. Requires testing RPi peripheral drivers with 4K pages. - [x] **Switch to 4K page size** — Aligned with upstream Talos kernel config. Reduces memory overhead and improves workload compatibility (Longhorn, jemalloc, F2FS, etc.).
- [ ] **Reliable in-place upgrades** — Investigate GRUB-based boot or alternative bootloader strategies to work around the `SetVariableRT` firmware limitation, enabling `talosctl upgrade` on RPi5/CM5. - [ ] **Reliable in-place upgrades** — Investigate GRUB-based boot or alternative bootloader strategies to work around the `SetVariableRT` firmware limitation, enabling `talosctl upgrade` on RPi5/CM5.
- [ ] **Serial console fix** — Debug U-Boot/kernel handoff to restore serial output after EFI stub exit. - [ ] **Serial console fix** — Debug U-Boot/kernel handoff to restore serial output after EFI stub exit.
- [ ] **NVMe boot support** — Produce images that target NVMe directly, or document a supported NVMe boot flow. - [ ] **NVMe boot support** — Produce images that target NVMe directly, or document a supported NVMe boot flow.

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@ -58,17 +58,6 @@ index 65b3647..7ba70c0 100644
# CONFIG_KEXEC is not set # CONFIG_KEXEC is not set
CONFIG_KEXEC_FILE=y CONFIG_KEXEC_FILE=y
CONFIG_KEXEC_SIG=y CONFIG_KEXEC_SIG=y
@@ -450,8 +451,8 @@ CONFIG_ROCKCHIP_ERRATUM_3588001=y
CONFIG_SOCIONEXT_SYNQUACER_PREITS=y
# end of ARM errata workarounds via the alternatives framework
-CONFIG_ARM64_4K_PAGES=y
-# CONFIG_ARM64_16K_PAGES is not set
+# CONFIG_ARM64_4K_PAGES is not set
+CONFIG_ARM64_16K_PAGES=y
# CONFIG_ARM64_64K_PAGES is not set
# CONFIG_ARM64_VA_BITS_39 is not set
CONFIG_ARM64_VA_BITS_48=y
@@ -660,7 +661,7 @@ CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y @@ -660,7 +661,7 @@ CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set # CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set