[PATCH v4 0/4] mm: workingset: fix the shadow node budget under MGLRU
From: Hui Zhu
Date: Mon Sep 07 2026 - 23:42:14 EST
From: Hui Zhu <zhuhui@xxxxxxxxxx>
Commit 7404bd37cfbe ("mm: workingset: use lruvec_lru_size() to get the
number of lru pages") broke the workingset shadow node budget under
MGLRU: lruvec_lru_size() reads mz->lru_zone_size, which MGLRU never
maintains, so count_shadow_nodes() sees the evictable LRU lists as
empty and the shadow shrinker reclaims eviction tokens almost as fast
as they are created, losing thrashing protection.
Patch 1 extends the dying-mcg stat redirection (previously cgroup v1
only) to all hierarchies, addressing the reparenting race that motivated
7404bd37cfbe.
Patch 2 then switches count_shadow_nodes() back to
lruvec_page_state_local(), which both classic LRU and MGLRU maintain.
Patch 3 recovers the performance. Patch 1 added an unconditional
rcu_read_lock() to the stat update fast path; patch 3 checks
memcg_is_dying() first and takes the RCU lock only on the rare dying
path.
Patch 4 closes an accounting gap that patch 2 makes visible: on cgroup
v2, reparent_state_local() never moves the dying memcg's
non-hierarchical lruvec stats to the parent, so the parent receives
the uncharges without the matching charges and its state_local
underflows. Patch 4 reparents those stats, mirroring cgroup v1.
Performance testing
===================
The test script and the raw results are available at [1].
Environment: 10-vCPU QEMU guest, 8 GiB RAM, cgroup v2; 7 runs per
configuration, medians reported. Workloads:
w1-anon-churn: single-threaded anon fault/charge loop in a memcg
(MADV_DONTNEED + re-fault, no reclaim). Every touch
is a real fault with charge and memcg stat updates,
so it stresses exactly the fast path patch 1 changes.
w2-file-churn: file read loop under memory.high pressure
(reclaim-bound, noisier).
w3-reparent: reparent accounting sanity check.
w1-anon-churn (pages/s):
classic LRU MGLRU
base 4393028 4377122
patches 1-2 4385996 (-0.2%) 4352887 (-0.6%)
patches 1-3 4381832 (-0.3%) 4377053 (+0.0%)
w2-file-churn (MB/s):
classic LRU MGLRU
base 8277 8226
patches 1-2 8226 (-0.6%) 8123 (-1.3%)
patches 1-3 8157 (-1.4%) 8294 (+0.8%)
w3-reparent passed on all kernels.
The small overhead visible with patches 1-2 comes from the redirection
added by patch 1; patch 3 brings w1 back to the base level in both LRU
configurations. The remaining differences are within run-to-run noise.
Patch 4 only touches the memcg offline path and is not exercised by
these workloads.
[1] https://gist.github.com/teawater/32f373ec41d185d840455eb167321a5a
Changelog:
v4:
According to the comments of Andrew, Fix "follow-up patch" to
"preceding patch" in the commit message to match the reordered series.
According to the comments of Sashiko, add patch 4 to reparent the
non-hierarchical lruvec stats on cgroup v2 to fixing the state_local
underflow.
v3:
According to the comments of Shakeel, reorder the series per review,
add Fixes/Cc stable and the user-visible impact to patch 1.
Hui Zhu (4):
mm: memcg: redirect stats updates of dying memcgs for all hierarchies
mm: workingset: use lruvec_page_state_local() to count lru pages
mm: memcg: skip the RCU lock when the memcg is not dying
mm: memcg: reparent non-hierarchical lruvec stats on cgroup v2
mm/memcontrol-v1.h | 5 ++--
mm/memcontrol.c | 72 +++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
mm/workingset.c | 5 ++--
3 files changed, 45 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
--
2.43.0