diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
index a1bc9b24e29a..fe237825b95c 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/transhuge.rst
@@ -202,12 +202,11 @@ PMD-mappable transparent hugepage::
 
 	cat /sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/hpage_pmd_size
 
-khugepaged will be automatically started when one or more hugepage
-sizes are enabled (either by directly setting "always" or "madvise",
-or by setting "inherit" while the top-level enabled is set to "always"
-or "madvise"), and it'll be automatically shutdown when the last
-hugepage size is disabled (either by directly setting "never", or by
-setting "inherit" while the top-level enabled is set to "never").
+khugepaged will be automatically started when PMD-sized THP is enabled
+(either of the per-size anon control or the top-level control are set
+to "always" or "madvise"), and it'll be automatically shutdown when
+PMD-sized THP is disabled (when both the per-size anon control and the
+top-level control are "never")
 
 Khugepaged controls
 -------------------
diff --git a/include/linux/huge_mm.h b/include/linux/huge_mm.h
index cee3c5da8f0e..acb6ac24a07e 100644
--- a/include/linux/huge_mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/huge_mm.h
@@ -128,18 +128,6 @@ static inline bool hugepage_global_always(void)
 			(1<<TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE_FLAG);
 }
 
-static inline bool hugepage_flags_enabled(void)
-{
-	/*
-	 * We cover both the anon and the file-backed case here; we must return
-	 * true if globally enabled, even when all anon sizes are set to never.
-	 * So we don't need to look at huge_anon_orders_inherit.
-	 */
-	return hugepage_global_enabled() ||
-	       READ_ONCE(huge_anon_orders_always) ||
-	       READ_ONCE(huge_anon_orders_madvise);
-}
-
 static inline int highest_order(unsigned long orders)
 {
 	return fls_long(orders) - 1;
diff --git a/mm/huge_memory.c b/mm/huge_memory.c
index 17fb072a0ca1..f8b5cbd4dd71 100644
--- a/mm/huge_memory.c
+++ b/mm/huge_memory.c
@@ -502,6 +502,13 @@ static ssize_t thpsize_enabled_store(struct kobject *kobj,
 	} else
 		ret = -EINVAL;
 
+	if (ret > 0) {
+		int err;
+
+		err = start_stop_khugepaged();
+		if (err)
+			ret = err;
+	}
 	return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/mm/khugepaged.c b/mm/khugepaged.c
index 409f67a817f1..a5ec03ef8722 100644
--- a/mm/khugepaged.c
+++ b/mm/khugepaged.c
@@ -413,6 +413,26 @@ static inline int hpage_collapse_test_exit_or_disable(struct mm_struct *mm)
 	       test_bit(MMF_DISABLE_THP, &mm->flags);
 }
 
+static bool hugepage_pmd_enabled(void)
+{
+	/*
+	 * We cover both the anon and the file-backed case here; file-backed
+	 * hugepages, when configured in, are determined by the global control.
+	 * Anon pmd-sized hugepages are determined by the pmd-size control.
+	 */
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_READ_ONLY_THP_FOR_FS) &&
+	    hugepage_global_enabled())
+		return true;
+	if (test_bit(PMD_ORDER, &huge_anon_orders_always))
+		return true;
+	if (test_bit(PMD_ORDER, &huge_anon_orders_madvise))
+		return true;
+	if (test_bit(PMD_ORDER, &huge_anon_orders_inherit) &&
+	    hugepage_global_enabled())
+		return true;
+	return false;
+}
+
 void __khugepaged_enter(struct mm_struct *mm)
 {
 	struct khugepaged_mm_slot *mm_slot;
@@ -449,7 +469,7 @@ void khugepaged_enter_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 			  unsigned long vm_flags)
 {
 	if (!test_bit(MMF_VM_HUGEPAGE, &vma->vm_mm->flags) &&
-	    hugepage_flags_enabled()) {
+	    hugepage_pmd_enabled()) {
 		if (thp_vma_allowable_order(vma, vm_flags, TVA_ENFORCE_SYSFS,
 					    PMD_ORDER))
 			__khugepaged_enter(vma->vm_mm);
@@ -2462,8 +2482,7 @@ static unsigned int khugepaged_scan_mm_slot(unsigned int pages, int *result,
 
 static int khugepaged_has_work(void)
 {
-	return !list_empty(&khugepaged_scan.mm_head) &&
-		hugepage_flags_enabled();
+	return !list_empty(&khugepaged_scan.mm_head) && hugepage_pmd_enabled();
 }
 
 static int khugepaged_wait_event(void)
@@ -2536,7 +2555,7 @@ static void khugepaged_wait_work(void)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	if (hugepage_flags_enabled())
+	if (hugepage_pmd_enabled())
 		wait_event_freezable(khugepaged_wait, khugepaged_wait_event());
 }
 
@@ -2567,7 +2586,7 @@ static void set_recommended_min_free_kbytes(void)
 	int nr_zones = 0;
 	unsigned long recommended_min;
 
-	if (!hugepage_flags_enabled()) {
+	if (!hugepage_pmd_enabled()) {
 		calculate_min_free_kbytes();
 		goto update_wmarks;
 	}
@@ -2617,7 +2636,7 @@ int start_stop_khugepaged(void)
 	int err = 0;
 
 	mutex_lock(&khugepaged_mutex);
-	if (hugepage_flags_enabled()) {
+	if (hugepage_pmd_enabled()) {
 		if (!khugepaged_thread)
 			khugepaged_thread = kthread_run(khugepaged, NULL,
 							"khugepaged");
@@ -2643,7 +2662,7 @@ int start_stop_khugepaged(void)
 void khugepaged_min_free_kbytes_update(void)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&khugepaged_mutex);
-	if (hugepage_flags_enabled() && khugepaged_thread)
+	if (hugepage_pmd_enabled() && khugepaged_thread)
 		set_recommended_min_free_kbytes();
 	mutex_unlock(&khugepaged_mutex);
 }