Re: [PATCH 05/17] writeback: quit throttling when signal pending

From: Wu Fengguang
Date: Sun Sep 12 2010 - 23:48:20 EST


On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 11:21:16AM +0800, Neil Brown wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:55:29 +0800
> Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 04:46:54AM +0800, Neil Brown wrote:
> > > On Sun, 12 Sep 2010 23:49:50 +0800
> > > Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > > This allows quick response to Ctrl-C etc. for impatient users.
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > > ---
> > > > mm/page-writeback.c | 3 +++
> > > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> > > >
> > > > --- linux-next.orig/mm/page-writeback.c 2010-09-09 16:01:14.000000000 +0800
> > > > +++ linux-next/mm/page-writeback.c 2010-09-09 16:02:27.000000000 +0800
> > > > @@ -553,6 +553,9 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct a
> > > > __set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE);
> > > > io_schedule_timeout(pause);
> > > >
> > > > + if (signal_pending(current))
> > > > + break;
> > > > +
> > >
> > > Given the patch description, I think you might want "fatal_signal_pending()"
> > > here ???
> >
> > __fatal_signal_pending() tests SIGKILL only, while the one often used
> > and need more quick responding is SIGINT..
> >
>
> I thought that at first too.... but I don't think that is the case.
>
> In kernel/signal.c, in complete_signal, we have
> if (sig_fatal() ...)
> ....
> sigaddset(&t->pending.signal, SIGKILL);
>
> where sig_fatal is
>
> #define sig_fatal(t, signr) \
> (!siginmask(signr, SIG_KERNEL_IGNORE_MASK|SIG_KERNEL_STOP_MASK) && \
> (t)->sighand->action[(signr)-1].sa.sa_handler == SIG_DFL)
>
>
> so (if I'm reading the code correctly), if a process receives a signal for
> which the handler is SIG_DFL, then SIGKILL is set in the pending mask, so
> __fatal_signal_pending will be true.
>
> So it fatal_signal_pending should catch any signal that will cause the
> process to exit. I assume that it what you want...

Ah yes, it does look so. Thanks for the detailed explanation!
Here is the updated patch.

Thanks,
Fengguang
---
Subject: writeback: quit throttling when fatal signal pending
From: Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed Sep 08 17:40:22 CST 2010

This allows quick response to Ctrl-C etc. for impatient users.

It mainly helps the rare bdi/global dirty exceeded cases.
In the normal case of not exceeded, it will quit the loop anyway.

CC: Neil Brown <neilb@xxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/page-writeback.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

--- linux-next.orig/mm/page-writeback.c 2010-09-12 13:25:23.000000000 +0800
+++ linux-next/mm/page-writeback.c 2010-09-13 11:39:33.000000000 +0800
@@ -552,6 +552,9 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct a
__set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE);
io_schedule_timeout(pause);

+ if (fatal_signal_pending(current))
+ break;
+
check_exceeded:
/*
* The bdi thresh is somehow "soft" limit derived from the
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