[RFC PATCH 2/2] arm64: Implement vmalloc based thread_info allocator

From: Jungseok Lee
Date: Sun May 24 2015 - 12:02:35 EST


Fork-routine sometimes fails to get a physically contiguous region for
thread_info on 4KB page system although free memory is enough. That is,
a physically contiguous region, which is currently 16KB, is not available
since system memory is fragmented.

This patch tries to solve the problem as allocating thread_info memory
from vmalloc space, not 1:1 mapping one. The downside is one additional
page allocation in case of vmalloc. However, vmalloc space is large enough,
around 240GB, under a combination of 39-bit VA and 4KB page. Thus, it is
not a big tradeoff for fork-routine service.

Suggested-by: Sungjinn Chung <barami97@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Jungseok Lee <jungseoklee85@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Will Deacon <will.deacon@xxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx
---
arch/arm64/Kconfig | 12 ++++++++++++
arch/arm64/include/asm/thread_info.h | 9 +++++++++
arch/arm64/kernel/process.c | 7 +++++++
3 files changed, 28 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/Kconfig b/arch/arm64/Kconfig
index 99930cf..93c236a 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/arm64/Kconfig
@@ -536,6 +536,18 @@ config ARCH_SELECT_MEMORY_MODEL
config HAVE_ARCH_PFN_VALID
def_bool ARCH_HAS_HOLES_MEMORYMODEL || !SPARSEMEM

+config ARCH_THREAD_INFO_ALLOCATOR
+ bool "Enable vmalloc based thread_info allocator (EXPERIMENTAL)"
+ depends on ARM64_4K_PAGES
+ default n
+ help
+ This feature enables vmalloc based thread_info allocator. It
+ prevents fork-routine from begin failed to obtain physically
+ contiguour region due to memory fragmentation on low system
+ memory platforms.
+
+ If unsure, say N
+
config HW_PERF_EVENTS
bool "Enable hardware performance counter support for perf events"
depends on PERF_EVENTS
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/thread_info.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/thread_info.h
index dcd06d1..e753e59 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/thread_info.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/thread_info.h
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@ struct thread_info {
#define init_thread_info (init_thread_union.thread_info)
#define init_stack (init_thread_union.stack)

+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_THREAD_INFO_ALLOCATOR
+#define alloc_thread_info_node(tsk, node) \
+({ \
+ __vmalloc_node_range(THREAD_SIZE, THREAD_SIZE, VMALLOC_START, \
+ VMALLOC_END, GFP_KERNEL, PAGE_KERNEL, 0, \
+ NUMA_NO_NODE, __builtin_return_address(0)); \
+})
+#define free_thread_info(ti) vfree(ti)
+#endif
/*
* how to get the current stack pointer from C
*/
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
index c506bee..c4b6aae 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
@@ -238,6 +238,13 @@ int arch_dup_task_struct(struct task_struct *dst, struct task_struct *src)
return 0;
}

+#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_THREAD_INFO_ALLOCATOR
+struct page *arch_thread_info_to_page(struct thread_info *ti)
+{
+ return vmalloc_to_page(ti);
+}
+#endif
+
asmlinkage void ret_from_fork(void) asm("ret_from_fork");

int copy_thread(unsigned long clone_flags, unsigned long stack_start,
--
1.9.1

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