[PATCH 14/14] mm: vmscan: limit the range of LRU type balancing

[Johannes Weiner]

When LRU cost only shows up on one list, we abruptly stop scanning
that list altogether. That's an extreme reaction: by the time the
other list starts thrashing and the pendulum swings back, we may have
no recent age information on the first list anymore, and we could have
significant latencies until the scanner has caught up.

Soften this change in the feedback system by ensuring that no list
receives less than a third of overall pressure, and only distribute
the other 66% according to LRU cost. This ensures that we maintain a
minimum rate of aging on the entire workingset while it's being
pressured, while still allowing a generous rate of convergence when
the relative sizes of the lists need to adjust.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
 mm/vmscan.c | 22 +++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 5453b4ef2ea1..c628f9ab886b 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -2237,12 +2237,11 @@ static void get_scan_count(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct scan_control *sc,
 			   unsigned long *nr)
 {
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = lruvec_memcg(lruvec);
+	unsigned long anon_cost, file_cost, total_cost;
 	int swappiness = mem_cgroup_swappiness(memcg);
 	u64 fraction[2];
 	u64 denominator = 0;	/* gcc */
-	unsigned long anon_prio, file_prio;
 	enum scan_balance scan_balance;
-	unsigned long totalcost;
 	unsigned long ap, fp;
 	enum lru_list lru;
 
@@ -2301,17 +2300,22 @@ static void get_scan_count(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct scan_control *sc,
 	 * the relative IO cost of bringing back a swapped out
 	 * anonymous page vs reloading a filesystem page (swappiness).
 	 *
+	 * Although we limit that influence to ensure no list gets
+	 * left behind completely: at least a third of the pressure is
+	 * applied, before swappiness.
+	 *
 	 * With swappiness at 100, anon and file have equal IO cost.
 	 */
-	anon_prio = swappiness;
-	file_prio = 200 - anon_prio;
+	total_cost = sc->anon_cost + sc->file_cost;
+	anon_cost = total_cost + sc->anon_cost;
+	file_cost = total_cost + sc->file_cost;
+	total_cost = anon_cost + file_cost;
 
-	totalcost = sc->anon_cost + sc->file_cost;
-	ap = anon_prio * (totalcost + 1);
-	ap /= sc->anon_cost + 1;
+	ap = swappiness * (total_cost + 1);
+	ap /= anon_cost + 1;
 
-	fp = file_prio * (totalcost + 1);
-	fp /= sc->file_cost + 1;
+	fp = (200 - swappiness) * (total_cost + 1);
+	fp /= file_cost + 1;
 
 	fraction[0] = ap;
 	fraction[1] = fp;
-- 
2.26.2