linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/1] arm64: mm: add config options for page table configuration

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Date:   Thu, 8 Dec 2016 11:33:39 -0800
From:   Scott Branden <scott.branden@...adcom.com>
To:     Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>
Cc:     Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>, Will Deacon <will.deacon@....com>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        BCM Kernel Feedback <bcm-kernel-feedback-list@...adcom.com>,
        Olof Johansson <olof@...om.net>,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/1] arm64: mm: add config options for page table
 configuration

On 16-12-08 10:57 AM, Catalin Marinas wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 08, 2016 at 08:30:36AM -0800, Scott Branden wrote:
>> On 16-12-08 02:00 AM, Catalin Marinas wrote:
>>> On Wed, Dec 07, 2016 at 11:40:00AM -0800, Scott Branden wrote:
>>>> Make MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS and SECTIONS_SIZE_BITS configurable by adding
>>>> config options.
>>>> Default to current settings currently defined in sparesmem.h.
>>>> For systems wishing to save memory the config options can be overridden.
>>>> Example, changing MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS from 48 to 36 at the same time as
>>>> changing SECTION_SIZE_BITS from 30 to 26 frees 13MB of memory.
> [...]
>>> I would rather reduce SECTION_SIZE_BITS permanently where
>>> feasible, like in this patch:
>>>
>>> http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1465821119-3384-1-git-send-email-jszhang@marvell.com
>>
>> This patch does not meet my requirements as I need SECTION_SIZE_BITS to be
>> set to 28 to reduce memory
>
> So with this patch, we reduce it to 27, it should be fine-grained enough
> for 128MB sections. Alternatively, there were other suggestions here:
>
> http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1604.1/03036.html
>
>> and to allow memory hotplug to allocate a 256 MB section.
>
> Can memory hotplug not work with 2*128MB sections in this case?
Yes, I then need to hotplug the memory at 2 locations for 1 memory 
addition but that will work in my current use case.  I'm one step away 
from hotplug working on ARM64.  Once that works I hope to break the 
dependencies between hotplug memory size created based on 
SECTION_SIZE_BITS in the future.

Since I currently have your attention:  I do think there is fundamental 
bug in the ARM64 mm implementation.  If you look at 
/sys/devices/system/memory it only shows the last memoryX section 
created after init.  It should be showing up multiple sections.  As a 
quick test change SECTION_SIZE_BITS and you look at 
/sys/devices/system/memory to see what changes.  Look at a standard x64 
machine you will see all the memoryX entries present.

>
>> My patch future proofs the tuning of the parameters by allowing
>> any section size to be made.
>
> While MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS makes sense to users in general,
> SECTION_SIZE_BITS is not always clear to the average user what it means
> and its min/max boundaries. That's another reason (apart from single/few
> Image case) why I prefer to not expose it as configuration option.
I agree SECTION_SIZE_BITS is confusing.  If you could provide more 
documentation on what it means and how it is used that would help others 
for sure.  I just stumbled upon it while working on a tight memory 
system and found it saves me significant memory.
>
>> I could combine the patch you list such that
>> SECTION_SIZE_BITS defaults to 30 when CONFIG_ARM64_64_PAGES is selected and
>> 27 otherwise.  Should it default to something else for 16K and 4K pages?
>
> I haven't done any calculations for 16K yet but we could probably come
> up with some formula based on PAGE_SHIFT to cover all cases.
Yes, a calculation based on pages that modified SECTION_SIZE_BITS would 
probably be a better solution.
>
>> In terms of MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS, if our SoCs only use 40 (or less) bits I would
>> also like the configuration functionality.  This allows us to make the
>> SECTION_SIZE_BITS smaller.
>
> So how small do you want SECTION_SIZE_BITS to be? As I said above, 128MB
> sections should be sufficient in most cases and without the need to
> reduce MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS.
>
256MB works for my current use case.  But appears somebody else was 
looking for 64MB previously.  So that is why adding support for 
modifying MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS makes sense as it needs to be modified to 
support the 64MB case:
https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/8/11/209