Re: [PATCH 2/3] Reclaim invalidated page ASAP

From: Johannes Weiner
Date: Tue Nov 30 2010 - 06:21:06 EST


On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 07:41:30AM +0900, Minchan Kim wrote:

> diff --git a/mm/swap.c b/mm/swap.c
> index 19e0812..1f1f435 100644
> --- a/mm/swap.c
> +++ b/mm/swap.c
> @@ -275,28 +275,51 @@ void add_page_to_unevictable_list(struct page *page)
> * into inative list's head. Because the VM expects the page would
> * be writeout by flusher. The flusher's writeout is much effective
> * than reclaimer's random writeout.
> + *
> + * If the page isn't page_mapped and dirty/writeback, the page
> + * could reclaim asap using PG_reclaim.
> + *
> + * 1. active, mapped page -> none
> + * 2. active, dirty/writeback page -> inactive, head, PG_reclaim
> + * 3. inactive, mapped page -> none
> + * 4. inactive, dirty/writeback page -> inactive, head, PG_reclaim
> + * 5. Others -> none
> + *
> + * In 4, why it moves inactive's head, the VM expects the page would
> + * be writeout by flusher. The flusher's writeout is much effective than
> + * reclaimer's random writeout.
> */
> static void __lru_deactivate(struct page *page, struct zone *zone)
> {
> int lru, file;
> - unsigned long vm_flags;
> + int active = 0;

vm_flags is never used in this series.

> - if (!PageLRU(page) || !PageActive(page))
> + if (!PageLRU(page))
> return;
> -
> /* Some processes are using the page */
> if (page_mapped(page))
> return;
> -
> - file = page_is_file_cache(page);
> - lru = page_lru_base_type(page);
> - del_page_from_lru_list(zone, page, lru + LRU_ACTIVE);
> - ClearPageActive(page);
> - ClearPageReferenced(page);
> - add_page_to_lru_list(zone, page, lru);
> - __count_vm_event(PGDEACTIVATE);
> -
> - update_page_reclaim_stat(zone, page, file, 0);
> + if (PageActive(page))
> + active = 1;

active = PageActive(page)

> + if (PageWriteback(page) || PageDirty(page)) {
> + /*
> + * PG_reclaim could be raced with end_page_writeback
> + * It can make readahead confusing. But race window
> + * is _really_ small and it's non-critical problem.
> + */
> + SetPageReclaim(page);
> +
> + file = page_is_file_cache(page);
> + lru = page_lru_base_type(page);
> + del_page_from_lru_list(zone, page, lru + active);
> + ClearPageActive(page);
> + ClearPageReferenced(page);
> + add_page_to_lru_list(zone, page, lru);
> + if (active)
> + __count_vm_event(PGDEACTIVATE);
> + update_page_reclaim_stat(zone, page, file, 0);
> + }

If we lose the race with writeback, the completion handler won't see
PG_reclaim, won't move the page, and we have an unwanted clean cache
page on the active list. Given the pagevec caching of those pages it
could be rather likely that IO completes before the above executes.

Shouldn't this be

if (PageWriteback() || PageDirty()) {
SetPageReclaim()
move_to_inactive_head()
} else {
move_to_inactive_tail()
}

instead?

Hannes
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