Re: [PATCH v3 1/7] mm: Add a bitmap into mmu_notifier_{clear,test}_young

[James Houghton]

Ah, I didn't see this in my inbox, sorry David!

On Thu, Apr 4, 2024 at 11:52 AM David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 02.04.24 01:29, James Houghton wrote:
> > diff --git a/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h b/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h
> > index f349e08a9dfe..daaa9db625d3 100644
> > --- a/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h
> > +++ b/include/linux/mmu_notifier.h
> > @@ -61,6 +61,10 @@ enum mmu_notifier_event {
> >
> >   #define MMU_NOTIFIER_RANGE_BLOCKABLE (1 << 0)
> >
> > +#define MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG                   (1 << 0)
> > +#define MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_BITMAP_UNRELIABLE (1 << 1)
>
> Especially this one really deserves some documentation :)

Yes, will do. Something like

    MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_BITMAP_UNRELIABLE indicates that the passed-in
bitmap either (1) does not accurately represent the age of the pages
(in the case of test_young), or (2) was not able to be used to
completely clear the age/access bit (in the case of clear_young).

>
> > +#define MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_FAST                      (1 << 2)
>
> And that one as well.

Something like

   Indicates that (1) passing a bitmap ({test,clear}_young_bitmap)
would have been supported for this address range.

The name MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_FAST really comes from the fact that KVM
is able to harvest the access bit "fast" (so for x86, locklessly, and
for arm64, with the KVM MMU read lock), "fast" enough that using a
bitmap to do look-around is probably a good idea.

>
> Likely best to briefly document all of them, and how they are
> supposed to be used (return value for X).

Right. Will do.

>
> > +
> >   struct mmu_notifier_ops {
> >       /*
> >        * Called either by mmu_notifier_unregister or when the mm is
> > @@ -106,21 +110,36 @@ struct mmu_notifier_ops {
> >        * clear_young is a lightweight version of clear_flush_young. Like the
> >        * latter, it is supposed to test-and-clear the young/accessed bitflag
> >        * in the secondary pte, but it may omit flushing the secondary tlb.
> > +      *
> > +      * If @bitmap is given but is not supported, return
> > +      * MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_BITMAP_UNRELIABLE.
> > +      *
> > +      * If the walk is done "quickly" and there were young PTEs,
> > +      * MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_FAST is returned.
> >        */
> >       int (*clear_young)(struct mmu_notifier *subscription,
> >                          struct mm_struct *mm,
> >                          unsigned long start,
> > -                        unsigned long end);
> > +                        unsigned long end,
> > +                        unsigned long *bitmap);
> >
> >       /*
> >        * test_young is called to check the young/accessed bitflag in
> >        * the secondary pte. This is used to know if the page is
> >        * frequently used without actually clearing the flag or tearing
> >        * down the secondary mapping on the page.
> > +      *
> > +      * If @bitmap is given but is not supported, return
> > +      * MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_BITMAP_UNRELIABLE.
> > +      *
> > +      * If the walk is done "quickly" and there were young PTEs,
> > +      * MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_FAST is returned.
> >        */
> >       int (*test_young)(struct mmu_notifier *subscription,
> >                         struct mm_struct *mm,
> > -                       unsigned long address);
> > +                       unsigned long start,
> > +                       unsigned long end,
> > +                       unsigned long *bitmap);
>
> What does "quickly" mean (why not use "fast")? What are the semantics, I
> don't find any existing usage of that in this file.

"fast" means fast enough such that using a bitmap to scan adjacent
pages (e.g. with MGLRU) is likely to be beneficial. I'll write more in
this comment. Perhaps I should just rename it to
MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG_BITMAP_SUPPORTED and drop the whole "likely to be
beneficial" thing -- that's for MGLRU/etc. to decide really.

>
> Further, what is MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG you introduce used for?

MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG is the return value when the page was young, but we
(1) didn't use a bitmap, and (2) the "fast" access bit harvesting
wasn't possible. In this case we simply return 1, which is
MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG. I'll make kvm_mmu_notifier_test_clear_young()
properly return MMU_NOTIFIER_YOUNG instead of relying on the fact that
it will be 1.

Thanks David!