Re: [PATCH] sparse: Track the boundaries of memory sections for accurate checks

[Raslan, KarimAllah]

Ahmed, Karim Allah
karahmed@xxxxxxxxx



> On Sep 15, 2016, at 12:05 AM, Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Raslan, KarimAllah <karahmed@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> On 6/20/16, 10:23 AM, "Michal Hocko" <mhocko@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> 
>>    On Sat 18-06-16 12:11:19, KarimAllah Ahmed wrote:
>>> When sparse memory model is used an array of memory sections is created to
>>> track each block of contiguous physical pages. Each element of this array
>>> contains PAGES_PER_SECTION pages. During the creation of this array the actual
>>> boundaries of the memory block is lost, so the whole block is either considered
>>> as present or not.
>>> 
>>> pfn_valid() in the sparse memory configuration checks which memory sections the
>>> pfn belongs to then checks whether it's present or not. This yields sub-optimal
>>> results when the available memory doesn't cover the whole memory section,
>>> because pfn_valid will return 'true' even for the unavailable pfns at the
>>> boundaries of the memory section.
>> 
>>    Please be more verbose of _why_ the patch is needed. Why those
>>    "sub-optimal results" matter?
>> 
>> Does this make sense to you ?
> 
> [ channeling my inner akpm ]
> 
> What's the user visible effect of this change?  What code is getting
> tripped up by pfn_valid() being imprecise, and why is changing
> pfn_valid() the preferred fix?

I did expand the commit message in v2 of this patch to answer these questions:

https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9190737/

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