Re: [PATCH v4 4/7] block: introduce write-hint to stream-id conversion

[Jan Kara]

On Wed 17-04-19 23:20:03, Kanchan Joshi wrote:
> This patch moves write-hint-to-stream-id conversion in block-layer.
> Earlier this was done by driver (nvme). Current conversion is of the
> form "streamid = write-hint - 1", for both user and kernel streams.
> Conversion takes stream limit (maintained in request queue) into
> account. Write-hints beyond the exposed limit turn to 0.
> A new field 'streamid' has been added in request. While 'write-hint'
> field continues to exist. It keeps original value passed from upper
> layer, and used during merging checks.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Kanchan Joshi <joshi.k@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  block/blk-core.c       | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
>  include/linux/blkdev.h |  1 +
>  2 files changed, 21 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/block/blk-core.c b/block/blk-core.c
> index a55389b..712e6b7 100644
> --- a/block/blk-core.c
> +++ b/block/blk-core.c
> @@ -730,6 +730,25 @@ bool blk_attempt_plug_merge(struct request_queue *q, struct bio *bio,
>  	return false;
>  }
>  
> +enum rw_hint blk_write_hint_to_streamid(struct request *req,
> +				        struct bio *bio)
> +{
> +	enum rw_hint streamid, nr_streams;
> +	struct request_queue *q = req->q;
> +	nr_streams = q->limits.nr_streams;
> +
> +	streamid = bio->bi_write_hint;
> +	if (!nr_streams || streamid == WRITE_LIFE_NOT_SET ||
> +	    streamid == WRITE_LIFE_NONE)
> +		streamid = 0;
> +	else {
> +		--streamid;
> +		if(streamid > nr_streams)
> +			streamid = 0;
> +	}
> +	return streamid;
> +}
> +

Someone told me that stream ids are potentially persistent on the storage
so it isn't great to change the id for the same thing e.g. if we add
another user hint. So maybe we should allocate kernel hints from top as
Dave Chinner suggested? I.e., something like the following mapping function:

	if (streamid <= BLK_MAX_USER_HINTS) {
		streamid--;
		if (streamid > nr_streams)
			streamid = 0;
	} else {
		/* Kernel hints get allocated from top */
		streamid -= WRITE_LIFE_KERN_MIN;
		if (streamid > nr_streams - BLK_MAX_USER_HINTS)
			streamid = 0;
		else
			streamid = nr_streams - streamid - 1;
	}

what do you think?

								Honza
-- 
Jan Kara <jack@xxxxxxxx>
SUSE Labs, CR