linux-kernel - Re: 2.6.32.5 regression: page allocation failure. order:1,

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Date:	Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:17:30 -0500
From:	Mark Lord <kernel@...savvy.com>
To:	Mel Gorman <mel@....ul.ie>
CC:	Linux Kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Hugh Dickins <hugh.dickins@...cali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: 2.6.32.5 regression: page allocation failure. order:1,

Mark Lord wrote:
> Mel Gorman wrote:
>> On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 09:13:27PM -0500, Mark Lord wrote:
>>> I recently upgraded our 24/7 server from 2.6.31.5 to 2.6.32.5.
>>>
>>> Now, suddenly the logs are full of "page allocation failure. order:1",
>>> and the odd "page allocation failure. order:4" failures.
>>>
>>> Wow.  WTF happened in 2.6.32 ???
>>>
>>
>> There was one bug related to MIGRATE_RESERVE that might be affecting
>> you. It reported as impacting swap-orientated workloads but it could
>> easily affect drivers that depend on high-order atomic allocations.
>> Unfortunately, the fix is not signed-off yet but I expect it to make its
>> way towards mainline when it is.
>>
>> Here is the patch with a slightly-altered changelog. Can you test if it
>> makes a difference please?
> ..
> 
> We don't like to reboot our 24/7 server very often,
> and certainly not for debugging buggy kernels.
> 
> It's rock solid again with 2.6.31.12 on it now.
> 
> The defining characteristic of that machine, is that it has only 512MB
> of physical RAM.  So perhaps I'll try booting a different machine here
> with mem=512M and see how that behaves.  If the problem shows up on that,
> then I'll try the patch.
..

Sod it.  2.6.32 is simply too broken for us here on 32-bit non-SMP.

Attempting to boot a 32-bit kernel with "nosmp mem=512M" on my notebook
locks up at boot time with several repeated messages like this:

   request_module: runaway loop modprobe binfmt_464c

Useless kernel on 32-bit.  I hope 2.6.33 ends up less buggy.

Cheers
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