[PATCH 1/2] mm/compaction: keep compaction deferral state per migration mode

From: Qiliang Yuan

Date: Thu Oct 01 2026 - 11:45:22 EST


try_to_compact_pages() defers a zone only after sync compaction fails,
so a failed async direct compaction is never deferred and repeats the
same futile zone scan on the next attempt. Deferring async compaction
needs state of its own: sync compaction may still succeed on the
pageblocks async skips, so it mustn't be deferred along with it.

Turn compact_considered, compact_defer_shift and compact_order_failed
into arrays indexed by sync, like compact_cached_migrate_pfn, and pass
the mode to the deferral helpers and tracepoints. All callers use the
sync state for now and a reset clears both. The deferral tracepoints
gain a sync field telling which state they report.

Signed-off-by: Qiliang Yuan <odys.yuan@xxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/mmzone.h | 7 +++--
include/trace/events/compaction.h | 27 ++++++++++--------
mm/compaction.c | 60 +++++++++++++++++++++------------------
3 files changed, 51 insertions(+), 43 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index 94f9c3ff54160..91fbaa7aec6f9 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -1140,10 +1140,11 @@ struct zone {
* are skipped before trying again. The number attempted since
* last failure is tracked with compact_considered.
* compact_order_failed is the minimum compaction failed order.
+ * Indexed by sync, like compact_cached_migrate_pfn.
*/
- unsigned int compact_considered;
- unsigned int compact_defer_shift;
- int compact_order_failed;
+ unsigned int compact_considered[ASYNC_AND_SYNC];
+ unsigned int compact_defer_shift[ASYNC_AND_SYNC];
+ int compact_order_failed[ASYNC_AND_SYNC];
#endif

#if defined CONFIG_COMPACTION || defined CONFIG_CMA
diff --git a/include/trace/events/compaction.h b/include/trace/events/compaction.h
index d05759d185389..23ac6e1750623 100644
--- a/include/trace/events/compaction.h
+++ b/include/trace/events/compaction.h
@@ -238,14 +238,15 @@ DEFINE_EVENT(mm_compaction_suitable_template, mm_compaction_suitable,

DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(mm_compaction_defer_template,

- TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order),
+ TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync),

- TP_ARGS(zone, order),
+ TP_ARGS(zone, order, sync),

TP_STRUCT__entry(
__field(int, nid)
__field(enum zone_type, idx)
__field(int, order)
+ __field(bool, sync)
__field(unsigned int, considered)
__field(unsigned int, defer_shift)
__field(int, order_failed)
@@ -255,15 +256,17 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(mm_compaction_defer_template,
__entry->nid = zone_to_nid(zone);
__entry->idx = zone_idx(zone);
__entry->order = order;
- __entry->considered = zone->compact_considered;
- __entry->defer_shift = zone->compact_defer_shift;
- __entry->order_failed = zone->compact_order_failed;
+ __entry->sync = sync;
+ __entry->considered = zone->compact_considered[sync];
+ __entry->defer_shift = zone->compact_defer_shift[sync];
+ __entry->order_failed = zone->compact_order_failed[sync];
),

- TP_printk("node=%d zone=%-8s order=%d order_failed=%d consider=%u limit=%lu",
+ TP_printk("node=%d zone=%-8s order=%d sync=%d order_failed=%d consider=%u limit=%lu",
__entry->nid,
__print_symbolic(__entry->idx, ZONE_TYPE),
__entry->order,
+ __entry->sync,
__entry->order_failed,
__entry->considered,
1UL << __entry->defer_shift)
@@ -271,23 +274,23 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(mm_compaction_defer_template,

DEFINE_EVENT(mm_compaction_defer_template, mm_compaction_deferred,

- TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order),
+ TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync),

- TP_ARGS(zone, order)
+ TP_ARGS(zone, order, sync)
);

DEFINE_EVENT(mm_compaction_defer_template, mm_compaction_defer_compaction,

- TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order),
+ TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync),

- TP_ARGS(zone, order)
+ TP_ARGS(zone, order, sync)
);

DEFINE_EVENT(mm_compaction_defer_template, mm_compaction_defer_reset,

- TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order),
+ TP_PROTO(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync),

- TP_ARGS(zone, order)
+ TP_ARGS(zone, order, sync)
);

TRACE_EVENT(mm_compaction_kcompactd_sleep,
diff --git a/mm/compaction.c b/mm/compaction.c
index a049415512c67..7f8845d1990aa 100644
--- a/mm/compaction.c
+++ b/mm/compaction.c
@@ -124,35 +124,35 @@ static unsigned long release_free_list(struct list_head *freepages)
* allocation success. 1 << compact_defer_shift, compactions are skipped up
* to a limit of 1 << COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT
*/
-static void defer_compaction(struct zone *zone, int order)
+static void defer_compaction(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync)
{
- zone->compact_considered = 0;
- zone->compact_defer_shift++;
+ zone->compact_considered[sync] = 0;
+ zone->compact_defer_shift[sync]++;

- if (order < zone->compact_order_failed)
- zone->compact_order_failed = order;
+ if (order < zone->compact_order_failed[sync])
+ zone->compact_order_failed[sync] = order;

- if (zone->compact_defer_shift > COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT)
- zone->compact_defer_shift = COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT;
+ if (zone->compact_defer_shift[sync] > COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT)
+ zone->compact_defer_shift[sync] = COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT;

- trace_mm_compaction_defer_compaction(zone, order);
+ trace_mm_compaction_defer_compaction(zone, order, sync);
}

/* Returns true if compaction should be skipped this time */
-static bool compaction_deferred(struct zone *zone, int order)
+static bool compaction_deferred(struct zone *zone, int order, bool sync)
{
- unsigned long defer_limit = 1UL << zone->compact_defer_shift;
+ unsigned long defer_limit = 1UL << zone->compact_defer_shift[sync];

- if (order < zone->compact_order_failed)
+ if (order < zone->compact_order_failed[sync])
return false;

/* Avoid possible overflow */
- if (++zone->compact_considered >= defer_limit) {
- zone->compact_considered = defer_limit;
+ if (++zone->compact_considered[sync] >= defer_limit) {
+ zone->compact_considered[sync] = defer_limit;
return false;
}

- trace_mm_compaction_deferred(zone, order);
+ trace_mm_compaction_deferred(zone, order, sync);

return true;
}
@@ -165,24 +165,28 @@ static bool compaction_deferred(struct zone *zone, int order)
void compaction_defer_reset(struct zone *zone, int order,
bool alloc_success)
{
- if (alloc_success) {
- zone->compact_considered = 0;
- zone->compact_defer_shift = 0;
+ int sync;
+
+ for (sync = 0; sync < ASYNC_AND_SYNC; sync++) {
+ if (alloc_success) {
+ zone->compact_considered[sync] = 0;
+ zone->compact_defer_shift[sync] = 0;
+ }
+ if (order >= zone->compact_order_failed[sync])
+ zone->compact_order_failed[sync] = order + 1;
}
- if (order >= zone->compact_order_failed)
- zone->compact_order_failed = order + 1;

- trace_mm_compaction_defer_reset(zone, order);
+ trace_mm_compaction_defer_reset(zone, order, true);
}

-/* Returns true if restarting compaction after many failures */
+/* Returns true if restarting sync compaction after many failures */
static bool compaction_restarting(struct zone *zone, int order)
{
- if (order < zone->compact_order_failed)
+ if (order < zone->compact_order_failed[true])
return false;

- return zone->compact_defer_shift == COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT &&
- zone->compact_considered >= 1UL << zone->compact_defer_shift;
+ return zone->compact_defer_shift[true] == COMPACT_MAX_DEFER_SHIFT &&
+ zone->compact_considered[true] >= 1UL << zone->compact_defer_shift[true];
}

/* Returns true if the pageblock should be scanned for pages to isolate. */
@@ -2855,7 +2859,7 @@ enum compact_result try_to_compact_pages(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
continue;

if (prio > MIN_COMPACT_PRIORITY
- && compaction_deferred(zone, order)) {
+ && compaction_deferred(zone, order, true)) {
rc = max_t(enum compact_result, COMPACT_DEFERRED, rc);
continue;
}
@@ -2893,7 +2897,7 @@ enum compact_result try_to_compact_pages(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
* so we defer compaction there. If it ends up
* succeeding after all, it will be reset.
*/
- defer_compaction(zone, order);
+ defer_compaction(zone, order, true);

/*
* We might have stopped compacting due to need_resched() in
@@ -3111,7 +3115,7 @@ static void kcompactd_do_work(pg_data_t *pgdat)
if (!populated_zone(zone))
continue;

- if (compaction_deferred(zone, cc.order))
+ if (compaction_deferred(zone, cc.order, true))
continue;

ret = compaction_suit_allocation_order(zone,
@@ -3141,7 +3145,7 @@ static void kcompactd_do_work(pg_data_t *pgdat)
* We use sync migration mode here, so we defer like
* sync direct compaction does.
*/
- defer_compaction(zone, cc.order);
+ defer_compaction(zone, cc.order, true);
}

count_compact_events(KCOMPACTD_MIGRATE_SCANNED,

--
2.43.0