Re: [PATCH v2 2/2] memory-hotplug.rst: complete admin-guide overhaul

[David Hildenbrand]

On 08.06.21 15:38, David Hildenbrand wrote:
> The memory hot(un)plug documentation is outdated and incomplete. Most of
> the content dates back to 2007, so it's time for a major overhaul.
>
> Let's rewrite, reorganize and update most parts of the documentation. In
> addition to memory hot(un)plug, also add some details regarding
> ZONE_MOVABLE, with memory hotunplug being one of its main consumers.
>
> Drop the file history, that information can more reliably be had from
> the git log.
>
> The style of the document is also properly fixed that e.g., "restview"
> renders it cleanly now.
>
> In the future, we might add some more details about virt users like
> virtio-mem, the XEN balloon, the Hyper-V balloon and ppc64 dlpar.
>
> Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Oscar Salvador <osalvador@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Mike Kravetz <mike.kravetz@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: Muchun Song <songmuchun@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Pavel Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: Stephen Rothwell <sfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: linux-doc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>


After a follow-up discussion on v1, the following on top:

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/memory-hotplug.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/memory-hotplug.rst
index 353b67e76439..15330ad4b764 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/memory-hotplug.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/memory-hotplug.rst
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ used to expose persistent memory, other performance-differentiated memory and
 reserved memory regions as ordinary system RAM to Linux.
 
 Linux only supports memory hot(un)plug on selected 64 bit architectures, such as
-x86_64, aarch64, ppc64, s390x and ia64.
+x86_64, arm64, ppc64, s390x and ia64.
 
 Memory Hot(Un)Plug Granularity
 ------------------------------
@@ -178,9 +178,9 @@ Or one can explicitly request a kernel zone (usually ZONE_NORMAL) by::
 
        % echo online_kernel > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/state
 
-In any case, if offline succeeds, the state of the memory block is changed to be
-"online". If it fails, an error will be returned by the kernel via the system
-call that triggered the respective file modification.
+In any case, if onlining succeeds, the state of the memory block is changed to
+be "online". If it fails, the state of the memory block will remain unchanged
+and the above commands will fail.
 
 Onlining Memory Blocks Automatically
 ------------------------------------
@@ -234,8 +234,15 @@ Or alternatively::
 
        % echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/memory/memoryXXX/online
 
-If offline succeeds, the state of the memory block is changed to be "offline".
-If it fails, an error will be returned by the kernel.
+If offlining succeeds, the state of the memory block is changed to be "offline".
+If it fails, the state of the memory block will remain unchanged and the above
+commands will fail, for example, via::
+
+       bash: echo: write error: Device or resource busy
+
+or via::
+
+       bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
 
 Observing the State of Memory Blocks
 ------------------------------------
@@ -535,7 +542,7 @@ block might fail:
   offlining; this applies to memory blocks present during boot only.
 
 - Special memory blocks prevented by the system from getting offlined. Examples
-  include any memory available during boot on aarch64 or memory blocks spanning
+  include any memory available during boot on arm64 or memory blocks spanning
   the crashkernel area on s390x; this usually applies to memory blocks present
   during boot only.
 




--
Thanks,

David / dhildenb