Date:	Wed, 9 Feb 2011 13:47:54 -0800
From:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org>
Cc:	Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...il.com>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Mel Gorman <mel@....ul.ie>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm: batch-free pcp list if possible

On Wed, 9 Feb 2011 22:33:38 +0100
Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 09, 2011 at 12:38:03PM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > On Wed,  9 Feb 2011 22:21:17 +0900
> > Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...il.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > free_pcppages_bulk() frees pages from pcp lists in a round-robin
> > > fashion by keeping batch_free counter. But it doesn't need to spin
> > > if there is only one non-empty list. This can be checked by
> > > batch_free == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...il.com>
> > > ---
> > >  mm/page_alloc.c |    4 ++++
> > >  1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > index a873e61e312e..470fb42e303c 100644
> > > --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > @@ -614,6 +614,10 @@ static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
> > >  			list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> > >  		} while (list_empty(list));
> > >  
> > > +		/* This is an only non-empty list. Free them all. */
> > > +		if (batch_free == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES)
> > > +			batch_free = to_free;
> > > +
> > >  		do {
> > >  			page = list_entry(list->prev, struct page, lru);
> > >  			/* must delete as __free_one_page list manipulates */
> > 
> > free_pcppages_bulk() hurts my brain.
> 
> Thanks for saying that ;-)

My brain has a lot of scar tissue.

> > What is it actually trying to do, and why?  It counts up the number of
> > contiguous empty lists and then frees that number of pages from the
> > first-encountered non-empty list and then advances onto the next list?
> > 
> > What's the point in that?  What relationship does the number of
> > contiguous empty lists have with the number of pages to free from one
> > list?
> 
> It at least recovers some of the otherwise wasted effort of looking at
> an empty list, by flushing more pages once it encounters a non-empty
> list.  After all, freeing to_free pages is the goal.
> 
> That breaks the round-robin fashion, though.  If list-1 has pages,
> list-2 is empty and list-3 has pages, it will repeatedly free one page
> from list-1 and two pages from list-3.
> 
> My initial response to Namhyung's patch was to write up a version that
> used a bitmap for all lists.  It starts with all lists set and clears
> their respective bit once the list is empty, so it would never
> consider them again.  But it looked a bit over-engineered for 3 lists
> and the resulting object code was bigger than what we have now.
> Though, it would be more readable.  Attached for reference (untested
> and all).
> 
> 	Hannes
> 
> diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> index 60e58b0..c77ab28 100644
> --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> @@ -590,8 +590,7 @@ static inline int free_pages_check(struct page *page)
>  static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
>  					struct per_cpu_pages *pcp)
>  {
> -	int migratetype = 0;
> -	int batch_free = 0;
> +	unsigned long listmap = (1 << MIGRATE_PCPTYPES) - 1;
>  	int to_free = count;
>  
>  	spin_lock(&zone->lock);
> @@ -599,31 +598,29 @@ static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
>  	zone->pages_scanned = 0;
>  
>  	while (to_free) {
> -		struct page *page;
> -		struct list_head *list;
> -
> +		int migratetype;
>  		/*
> -		 * Remove pages from lists in a round-robin fashion. A
> -		 * batch_free count is maintained that is incremented when an
> -		 * empty list is encountered.  This is so more pages are freed
> -		 * off fuller lists instead of spinning excessively around empty
> -		 * lists
> +		 * Remove pages from lists in a round-robin fashion.
> +		 * Empty lists are excluded from subsequent rounds.
>  		 */
> -		do {
> -			batch_free++;
> -			if (++migratetype == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES)
> -				migratetype = 0;
> -			list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> -		} while (list_empty(list));
> +		for_each_set_bit (migratetype, &listmap, MIGRATE_PCPTYPES) {
> +			struct list_head *list;
> +			struct page *page;
>  
> -		do {
> +			list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> +			if (list_empty(list)) {
> +				listmap &= ~(1 << migratetype);
> +				continue;
> +			}
> +			if (!to_free--)
> +				break;
>  			page = list_entry(list->prev, struct page, lru);
>  			/* must delete as __free_one_page list manipulates */
>  			list_del(&page->lru);
>  			/* MIGRATE_MOVABLE list may include MIGRATE_RESERVEs */
>  			__free_one_page(page, zone, 0, page_private(page));
>  			trace_mm_page_pcpu_drain(page, 0, page_private(page));
> -		} while (--to_free && --batch_free && !list_empty(list));
> +		}
>  	}
>  	__mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_FREE_PAGES, count);
>  	spin_unlock(&zone->lock);

Well, it replaces one linear search with another one.  If you really
want to avoid repeated walking over empty lists then create a local
array `list_head *lists[MIGRATE_PCPTYPES]' (or MIGRATE_PCPTYPES+1 for
null-termination), populate it on entry and compact it as lists fall
empty.  Then the code can simply walk around the lists until to_free is
satisfied or list_empty(lists[0]).  It's not obviously worth the effort
though - the empty list_heads will be cache-hot and all the cost will
be in hitting cache-cold pageframes.



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