Re: [PATCH 2/4] mm: compaction: support non-movable compaction for pageblock requests
From: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)
Date: Thu Jul 09 2026 - 16:46:31 EST
On 7/9/26 19:39, Johannes Weiner wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 02, 2026 at 11:28:47AM +0200, Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) wrote:
>> On 7/1/26 23:11, Johannes Weiner wrote:
>> > On Wed, Jul 01, 2026 at 08:14:05PM +0200, Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > This made the migratetype filtering about preventing block
>> >> > pollution. The patch quotes reduced extfrag numbers.
>> >> >
>> >> > So now we have a block pollution guard that we apply only if... the
>> >> > scanner is latency sensitive? :) Is this actually desired behavior?
>> >>
>> >> Yeah indeed I was wondering in this direction.
>> >>
>> >> > Another way of looking at it would be this:
>> >> >
>> >> > /*
>> >> > * Allocation fallbacks can spread migratable pages
>> >> > * into non-movable blocks.
>> >>
>> >> But also vice versa, non-movable pages into movable blocks? (without
>> >> defrag_mode?).
>> >
>> > Uhm but those aren't compactable anymore then, right?
>>
>> Yeah.
>>
>> > There is a flipside, but it isn't quite symmetrical. Movable requests
>> > are allowed to look for movables in unmovable blocks once they become
>> > sync (high-effort, low-result). Non-movable requests are finally
>> > allowed to empty movable blocks once they become sync; they *start*
>> > with the high-effort, low-result mode to avoid block contamination but
>> > are allowed to escalate when that doesn't produce results.
>>
>> Hm, true!
>>
>> I was also thinking, if defrag mode doesn't allow that escalation ever
>> (IIRC?), should it be reflected here as well even with sync compaction?
>
> Ok I made a clarification regarding defrag_mode in the other comment.
>
> How about this?
Looks good.
> diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
> index 7df3a85d43af..a12a49eefe85 100644
> --- a/mm/compaction.c
> +++ b/mm/compaction.c
> @@ -1399,13 +1399,24 @@ static bool suitable_migration_source(struct compact_control *cc,
> if (is_migrate_cma(block_mt) && !(cc->alloc_flags & ALLOC_CMA))
> return false;
>
> + /*
> + * Per default, scans are restricted to blocks compatible with
> + * the request, to prevent cross-contamination. Once
> + * compaction priority escalates to synchronous scans, though,
> + * scan all blocks to try to make forward progress. For
> + * movable request, this likely helps little: there shouldn't
> + * be many migratable pages inside non-movable blocks besides
> + * allocator fallbacks. For non-movable requests, this helps a
> + * lot, as they can finally scan movable blocks.
> + */
> if (cc->mode != MIGRATE_ASYNC)
> return true;
>
> /*
> * Prevent small unmovable/reclaimable requests from polluting
> - * movable blocks through fallbacks. Whole-block production is
> - * exempt as the allocator claims and converts these.
> + * movable blocks through fallbacks. Whole-block production
> + * (directly requested, or defrag_mode) is exempt as the
> + * allocator claims and converts these.
> */
> if (cc->migratetype == MIGRATE_MOVABLE || cc->order >= pageblock_order)
> return is_migrate_movable(block_mt);