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Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2021 10:13:04 +1000 From: NeilBrown <neilb@...e.de> To: Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>, Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>, Andreas Dilger <adilger.kernel@...ger.ca>, "Darrick J. Wong" <djwong@...nel.org>, Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>, Mel Gorman <mgorman@...e.com> Cc: linux-xfs@...r.kernel.org, linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, linux-nfs@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org Subject: [PATCH 1/6] MM: improve documentation for __GFP_NOFAIL __GFP_NOFAIL is documented both in gfp.h and memory-allocation.rst. The details are not entirely consistent. This patch ensures both places state that: - there is a cost potentially imposed on other subsystems - it should only be used when there is no real alternative - it is preferable to an endless loop - it is strongly discourages for costly-order allocations. Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@...e.de> --- Documentation/core-api/memory-allocation.rst | 9 ++++++++- include/linux/gfp.h | 4 ++++ 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/memory-allocation.rst b/Documentation/core-api/memory-allocation.rst index 5954ddf6ee13..9458ce72d31c 100644 --- a/Documentation/core-api/memory-allocation.rst +++ b/Documentation/core-api/memory-allocation.rst @@ -126,7 +126,14 @@ or another request. * ``GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOFAIL`` - overrides the default allocator behavior and all allocation requests will loop endlessly until they succeed. - This might be really dangerous especially for larger orders. + The allocator may provide access to memory that would otherwise be + reserved in order to satisfy this allocation which might adversely + affect other subsystems. So it should only be used when there is no + reasonable failure policy and when the memory is likely to be freed + again in the near future. Its use is strong discourage (via a + WARN_ON) for allocations larger than ``PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER``. + While this flag is best avoided, it is still preferable to endless + loops around the allocator. Selecting memory allocator ========================== diff --git a/include/linux/gfp.h b/include/linux/gfp.h index 55b2ec1f965a..101479373738 100644 --- a/include/linux/gfp.h +++ b/include/linux/gfp.h @@ -209,6 +209,10 @@ struct vm_area_struct; * used only when there is no reasonable failure policy) but it is * definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode endless * loop around allocator. + * Use of this flag may provide access to memory which would otherwise be + * reserved. As such it must be understood that there can be a cost imposed + * on other subsystems as well as the obvious cost of placing the calling + * thread in an uninterruptible indefinite wait. * Using this flag for costly allocations is _highly_ discouraged. */ #define __GFP_IO ((__force gfp_t)___GFP_IO)
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