Re: [PATCH v3 6/6] mm: document semantics of ZONE_MOVABLE

[David Hildenbrand]

On 04.08.20 12:03, Mike Rapoport wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 04, 2020 at 11:55:10AM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>> On 04.08.20 11:33, Mike Rapoport wrote:
>>> On Tue, Aug 04, 2020 at 09:24:08AM +0200, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>>>> Let's document what ZONE_MOVABLE means, how it's used, and which special
>>>> cases we have regarding unmovable pages (memory offlining vs. migration /
>>>> allocations).
>>>>
>>>> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Mike Kravetz <mike.kravetz@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Pankaj Gupta <pankaj.gupta.linux@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: Baoquan He <bhe@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
>>>
>>> Several nits below, othersize
>>>
>>> Acked-by: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>
>>>> ---
>>>>  include/linux/mmzone.h | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>>>  1 file changed, 34 insertions(+)
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
>>>> index f6f884970511d..600d449e7d9e9 100644
>>>> --- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
>>>> +++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
>>>> @@ -372,6 +372,40 @@ enum zone_type {
>>>>  	 */
>>>>  	ZONE_HIGHMEM,
>>>>  #endif
>>>> +	/*
>>>> +	 * ZONE_MOVABLE is similar to ZONE_NORMAL, except that it *primarily*
>>>> +	 * only contains movable pages. Main use cases are to make memory
>>>
>>> "Primarily only" sounds awkward. Maybe
>>>
>>> 	... except that it only contains movable pages with few exceptional
>>> 	cases described below. 
>>>
>>> And then 
>>>
>>> 	Main use cases for ZONE_MOVABLE are ...
>>
>> Ack!
>>
>>>
>>>> +	 * offlining more likely to succeed, and to locally limit unmovable
>>>> +	 * allocations - e.g., to increase the number of THP/huge pages.
>>>> +	 * Notable special cases are:
>>>> +	 *
>>>> +	 * 1. Pinned pages: (Long-term) pinning of movable pages might
>>>
>>> 		            ^long, capital L looked out of place for me
>>
>> Ack!
>>
>>>
>>>> +	 *    essentially turn such pages unmovable. Memory offlining might
>>>> +	 *    retry a long time.
>>>> +	 * 2. memblock allocations: kernelcore/movablecore setups might create
>>>> +	 *    situations where ZONE_MOVABLE contains unmovable allocations
>>>> +	 *    after boot. Memory offlining and allocations fail early.
>>>> +	 * 3. Memory holes: Such pages cannot be allocated. Applies only to
>>>> +	 *    boot memory, not hotplugged memory. Memory offlining and
>>>> +	 *    allocations fail early.
>>>
>>> I would clarify where page struct for abscent memory come from
>>
>> Something like:
>>
>> Memory holes: We might have a memmap for memory holes, for example, if
> 
>                ^w ;-)
> 
>> we have sections that are only partially System RAM. Such pages cannot
>> be ...
> 
> How about
> 
> ... sections that are only partially populated 
> 
> ?

Yeah, shorter. Thanks!


-- 
Thanks,

David / dhildenb