/**
  * pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint - updates metadata about a chunk
  * @chunk: chunk of interest
+ * @full_scan: if we should scan from the beginning
  *
  * Iterates over the metadata blocks to find the largest contig area.
- * It also counts the populated pages and uses the delta to update the
- * global count.
+ * A full scan can be avoided on the allocation path as this is triggered
+ * if we broke the contig_hint.  In doing so, the scan_hint will be before
+ * the contig_hint or after if the scan_hint == contig_hint.  This cannot
+ * be prevented on freeing as we want to find the largest area possibly
+ * spanning blocks.
  */
-static void pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(struct pcpu_chunk *chunk)
+static void pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(struct pcpu_chunk *chunk, bool full_scan)
 {
        struct pcpu_block_md *chunk_md = &chunk->chunk_md;
        int bit_off, bits;
 
-       /* clear metadata */
-       chunk_md->contig_hint = 0;
+       /* promote scan_hint to contig_hint */
+       if (!full_scan && chunk_md->scan_hint) {
+               bit_off = chunk_md->scan_hint_start + chunk_md->scan_hint;
+               chunk_md->contig_hint_start = chunk_md->scan_hint_start;
+               chunk_md->contig_hint = chunk_md->scan_hint;
+               chunk_md->scan_hint = 0;
+       } else {
+               bit_off = chunk_md->first_free;
+               chunk_md->contig_hint = 0;
+       }
 
-       bit_off = chunk_md->first_free;
        bits = 0;
        pcpu_for_each_md_free_region(chunk, bit_off, bits) {
                pcpu_block_update(chunk_md, bit_off, bit_off + bits);
        if (nr_empty_pages)
                pcpu_update_empty_pages(chunk, -nr_empty_pages);
 
+       if (pcpu_region_overlap(chunk_md->scan_hint_start,
+                               chunk_md->scan_hint_start +
+                               chunk_md->scan_hint,
+                               bit_off,
+                               bit_off + bits))
+               chunk_md->scan_hint = 0;
+
        /*
         * The only time a full chunk scan is required is if the chunk
         * contig hint is broken.  Otherwise, it means a smaller space
                                chunk_md->contig_hint,
                                bit_off,
                                bit_off + bits))
-               pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(chunk);
+               pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(chunk, false);
 }
 
 /**
         * the else condition below.
         */
        if (((end - start) >= PCPU_BITMAP_BLOCK_BITS) || s_index != e_index)
-               pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(chunk);
+               pcpu_chunk_refresh_hint(chunk, true);
        else
                pcpu_block_update(&chunk->chunk_md,
                                  pcpu_block_off_to_off(s_index, start),
        if (bit_off + alloc_bits > chunk_md->contig_hint)
                return -1;
 
-       bit_off = chunk_md->first_free;
+       bit_off = pcpu_next_hint(chunk_md, alloc_bits);
        bits = 0;
        pcpu_for_each_fit_region(chunk, alloc_bits, align, bit_off, bits) {
                if (!pop_only || pcpu_is_populated(chunk, bit_off, bits,