Re: [PATCH v2] net: ethernet: mtk_eth_soc: fix misuse of mem alloc interface netdev[napi]_alloc_frag

[Eric Dumazet]

On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 11:59 AM Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 3 Jun 2022 10:25:16 -0700 Eric Dumazet wrote:
> > >                         goto release_desc;
> > > @@ -1914,7 +1923,16 @@ static int mtk_rx_alloc(struct mtk_eth *eth, int ring_no, int rx_flag)
> > >                 return -ENOMEM;
> > >
> > >         for (i = 0; i < rx_dma_size; i++) {
> > > -               ring->data[i] = netdev_alloc_frag(ring->frag_size);
> >
> > Note aside, calling netdev_alloc_frag() in a loop like that is adding
> > GFP_ATOMIC pressure.
> >
> > mtk_rx_alloc() being in process context, using GFP_KERNEL allocations
> > would be less aggressive and
> > have more chances to succeed.
> >
> > We probably should offer a generic helper. This could be used from
> > driver/net/tun.c and others.
>
> Do cases where netdev_alloc_frag() is not run from a process context
> from to your mind? My feeling is that the prevailing pattern is what
> this driver does, which is netdev_alloc_frag() at startup / open and
> napi_alloc_frag() from the datapath. So maybe we can even spare the
> detail in the API and have napi_alloc_frag() assume GFP_KERNEL by
> default?

Yes, we only have to review callers and change the documentation and
implementation.

The confusion/overhead/generalization came with :

commit 7ba7aeabbaba484347cc98fbe9045769ca0d118d
Author: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   Fri Jun 7 21:20:34 2019 +0200

    net: Don't disable interrupts in napi_alloc_frag()

    netdev_alloc_frag() can be used from any context and is used by NAPI
    and non-NAPI drivers. Non-NAPI drivers use it in interrupt context
    and NAPI drivers use it during initial allocation (->ndo_open() or
    ->ndo_change_mtu()). Some NAPI drivers share the same function for the
    initial allocation and the allocation in their NAPI callback.

    The interrupts are disabled in order to ensure locked access from every
    context to `netdev_alloc_cache'.

    Let netdev_alloc_frag() check if interrupts are disabled. If they are,
    use `netdev_alloc_cache' otherwise disable BH and invoke
    __napi_alloc_frag() for the allocation. The IRQ check is cheaper
    compared to disabling & enabling interrupts and memory allocation with
    disabled interrupts does not work on -RT.

    Signed-off-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
    Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>