Re: [PATCH] oom_reaper: close race without using oom_lock

[Johannes Weiner]

On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 11:06:50PM +0900, Tetsuo Handa wrote:
> Commit e2fe14564d3316d1 ("oom_reaper: close race with exiting task")
> guarded whole OOM reaping operations using oom_lock. But there was no
> need to guard whole operations. We needed to guard only setting of
> MMF_OOM_REAPED flag because get_page_from_freelist() in
> __alloc_pages_may_oom() is called with oom_lock held.
>
> If we change to guard only setting of MMF_OOM_SKIP flag, the OOM reaper
> can start reaping operations as soon as wake_oom_reaper() is called.
> But since setting of MMF_OOM_SKIP flag at __mmput() is not guarded with
> oom_lock, guarding only the OOM reaper side is not sufficient.
> 
> If we change the OOM killer side to ignore MMF_OOM_SKIP flag once,
> there is no need to guard setting of MMF_OOM_SKIP flag, and we can
> guarantee a chance to call get_page_from_freelist() in
> __alloc_pages_may_oom() without depending on oom_lock serialization.
> 
> This patch makes MMF_OOM_SKIP act as if MMF_OOM_REAPED, and adds a new
> flag which acts as if MMF_OOM_SKIP, in order to close both race window
> (the OOM reaper side and __mmput() side) without using oom_lock.

I have no idea what this is about - a race window fix? A performance
optimization? A code simplification?

Users and vendors are later going to read through these changelogs and
have to decide whether they want this patch or upgrade to a kernel
containing it. Please keep these people in mind when writing the
subject and first paragraph of the changelogs.